International Booker Shortlist 2026 | Caly Recommends... On Earth As It Is Beneath - Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan

Caly says ... This had me on the edge of my seat, holding my breath. An entirely gripping and impactful story following inmates in a forgotten prison and their dangerous warden's descent into insanity. A thoughtful yet bloody reflection on crime, failures and disparities within justice systems and the things that must be sacrificed in pursuit of freedom...

--

On land where enslaved people were once tortured and murdered, the state built a penal colony in the wilderness, where inmates could be rehabilitated, but never escape. Now, decades later, and having only succeeded in trapping men, not changing them for the better, its operations are winding down. But in the prison’s waning days, a new horror is unleashed: every full-moon night, the inmates are released, the warden is armed with rifles, and the hunt begins.

Every man plans his escape, not knowing if his end will come at the hands of a familiar face, or from the unknown dangers beyond the prison walls. Ana Paula Maia has once again delivered a bracing vision of our potential for violence, and our collective failure to account for the consequences of our social and political action, or inaction. No crime is committed out of view for this novelist, and her raw, brutal power enlists us all as witness