The Sea and the Serpent

I say, where’s dad?
She says, I don’t know.
Dad left on his bike.
Dad got lost.
I say, did dad get lost?
Mum looks at me. She doesn’t speak. A lot of water comes out of her eyes.
I say, don’t cry, mommy. I say, he’s going to be found.
My tummy hurts. But I don’t cry.

The Sea and the Serpent is a first-person account of the experience of a little girl whose parents are abducted by the Argentinean dictatorship. The adults around the protagonist strive to protect her from reality, but in doing so they prevent her – unintentionally – from understanding and overcoming the sudden and inexplicable loss. As the protagonist grows up, she learns the truth about her own history, and it is only then that she can begin to accept it.

The author’s concise language, which observes the facts without adding commentary or excessive explanation, is powerful and gives great force and immediacy to the events recounted.

Key points

2022 – Selected in Prix Littéraire de la Citoyenneté
2018 – Cuatrogatos Foundation, 100 Recommended Books
2017 – Selected in Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Fair, Madrid
2006 – Special mention in The White Ravens List
2005 – IBBY Argentina, Novel category

• Novel considered a contemporary classic of the Argentinean Young Adult literature.
• More than 80,000 copies sold.
• A different, poetic and sensitive approach to the Latin American dictatorships of the 20th century.
• Acquired by the National Commission of Popular Libraries of Argentina in 2006, by the Colombian library system in 2008 and by the reading plan of the City of Buenos Aires in 2021.

Paula Bombara

2024 – Konex Foundation, Career Achievement Award, Youth Literature Category
2023, 2013 – IBBY Argentina, Grand Prize Best Book of the Year
2022-2014 – Five times winner of Cuatrogatos Foundation Award
2022-2017 – IBBY México, 4 times selected among the best young adult novels of the year
2017 – Banco del Libro de Venezuela, Endearing Novel Mention
2016, 2006 – The White Ravens List