Undiscovered

Charles Wiener was a huaquero (grave robber) who brought hundreds of thousands of pre-Colombian artifacts to Europe. In her autobiographical novel, Peruvian journalist and writer Gabriela Wiener's narrator confronts and embraces the possibility that she may not be a descendant of his, much to the chagrin of others in the family. Wrestling with her possible ancestor's problematic legacy is only one of the knotty and profound topics Gabriela takes on. The first half of her story brings Gabriela back to Peru after her father's death where she faces his legacy of duplicity and love. On her return, in the second half, to her life in Spain, she continues to delve deeply into her choices as she works to dismantle patriarchy and colonization in her life. Mostly narrated in short sections in Gabriela's voice, Wiener mixes it up with poems, Facebook posts, emails, and a cryptic note about a fatal exhibit of human beings (including Zulu and Inca families) from Charles' time. While Wiener's handwringing, however lyrical, can get tedious, she brings it all home with hope for a new generation.

Peruvian writer Wiener (Sexographies) plumbs the depths of her family history while exploring the legacy of colonialism in this incisive work of autofiction. The narrator, a self-described "chola" or dark-skinned Peruvian woman named Gabriela, lives in Spain in a queer polyamorous triad, and is proud of her nontraditional life. Then her beloved father dies, and she returns to Peru in mourning. There, she inquires into the lives of patriarchal figures further back in her family's history, including her great-great-grandfather, the Austrian-French explorer Charles Wiener, who brought Indigenous artifacts back to Europe for display. As she researches her ancestor, she also learns about her father and his infidelities. Weiner shifts seamlessly from the intimate to the historical, often with humor (on Charles Wiener's writings on Bolivia and Peru: "He is... without a doubt, the creator of the story's hero: himself. Had he lived in the twenty-first century, he might have been accused of the worst possible crime an author can be accused of today: writing autofiction"). Weiner's slim and affecting novel will whet readers' appetites for more. Agent: María Lynch, Casanovas & Lynch. (Sept.)