Aunt Julia and the scriptwriter

Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter is a story of an 18-year old aspiring writer and his affair with a 32-year old divorcee. The story is drawn from the life of the author and includes real life instances that are mixed with fictitious accounts.

Mario is a young man living in Lima, Peru and working in a Panamericana radio station as a news bulletin writer. During his stay in the city with his aunt, he meets her sister, Julia, who has recently ended her marriage. After initial hiccups, the two become good friends and even move on to become romantically involved with one another. In parallel to the budding romance, readers are also familiarised with a Bolivian scriptwriter named Pedro who is hired by the same radio station that Mario works in, to write serials. As the relationship between Mario and Julia gains momentum and complexity, the rise and fall of Pedro reveals the artistic environment of the era.

Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter is an engrossing tale of unconventional romances, the artistic process and the life of an ordinary person during the 50’s in Peru. The book has been published by Faber in 2012 and is available in paperback.