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On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia

$17.95

INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED 2026

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.

INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED 2026

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Ana Paula Maia is the author of three novels, O habitante das falhas subterrâneas (The Denizen of the Underground Faults), A guerra dos bastardos (The War of the Bastards), and Carvão Animal (Animal Fuel), as well as the double novella Entre rinhas de cachorros e porcos abatidos (Between Fighting Dogs and Slaughtered Pigs). Ana Paula Maia is also a screenwriter, and her first film will be adapted to the screen in 2014. Her stories have been included in a number of anthologies, both in Brazil and beyond, including the UK’s Litro magazine, where these two stories debuted. She blogs at killing-travis.blogspot.com.