Synopses & Reviews
A cutting, comic odyssey of a hapless hero ensnared by globalization, humanitarian aid, and the international sex trade, from an award-winning young Spanish writerTo save lives and get handsomely paid for it--what job could be more rewarding? Moises Froissard has found the career opportunity of his dreams. After a start as a conventional bleeding heart with an idealistic aid group, he quickly wises up to the harsh reality of a world in which human life is just another product in a competitive marketplace. Now he travels the globe on the trail of illegal immigrants, refugees, and other ordinary souls brought low by war, natural disaster, or economic collapse. Scouting the slums and gutters of the world, Moises's task is to unearth nature's most beautiful men, women, and children and save them--for Club Olympus, a top-price international sex club.
Then Moises receives his toughest assignment yet: to find a "Nubian prince," an African illegal caught fleetingly in the pages of a glossy magazine. The man is so painfully desirable that Club Olympus will sacrifice anything to have him--even Moises himself. Our narrator begins the chase, dazed, prevaricating, self-obsessed, funny, a little cruel, a little sentimental.
The Nubian Prince takes place in a pitiless world where the have-nots will do anything to become haves, while the privileged don't know what to live for. Hilarious, moving, sexually explosive, and deeply disturbing, this bestselling Spanish novel introduces a new European star.
Review
"One of Spain's top ten writers . . . funny and ferocious, Juan Bonilla is the best evidence that there's nothing incompatible about profundity and humor."--
El Mundo
"A skillful treatment of its unusual and tricky subject."--Kirkus Reviews
"Bonilla does a wonderful job of taking a character the reader could and maybe should easily hate and turning him into a somewhat likeable (if still disgusting) narcissist."--Library Journal
Synopsis
After giving up the thankless life of a do-gooder, Moises Froissard now travels the world, saves lives, and makes more money in a week than he would in a year helping the poor. Moises is a scout for the Club Olympus, the world's most refined and expensive sex club. His task is to follow the currents of poverty and disaster in search of illegal immigrants, refugees, and other unfortunates, and rescue the most beautiful among them--men, women, and children--for highly-paid careers as prostitutes.
His search for the most coveted prize, a young fighter from the Sudan known as the Nubian Prince, will bring him up against the most savage forces of the underground economy, threatening his safety as well as his fragile conscience. Hilarious, disturbing, and sexually explosive, Bonilla's American debut tells the story of an ordinary man reckoning with the allure and the hazards of the global underworld.
About the Author
Juan Bonilla was born in Jerez, Spain, in 1966 and is a columnist for
El Mundo, the Spanish daily newspaper. He is the author of three novels, four short-story collections, and a children's book. He was awarded the prestigious Biblioteca Breve Prize for
The Nubian Prince.