The Middle of the Sky
(El ombligo del cielo)
Literary Fiction
El ombligo del cielo is a novel that takes place in La Calera, a small, legendary city in the middle of Chile. The book’s magical universe tells the story of various characters who are both real and imaginary: Vicente Huidobro, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Nicanor Parra, Gonzalo Millán, the ghost of Roberto Bolaño, the dictator Pinochet, the transvestite La Mary, the Fortune-telling Murderer, Yuyo, the resurrector. They all meet up in a search to uncover the extraordinary secret lurking at the deepest, darkest heart of Chile.