The Lost Baggage of Silvia Guzmán

When Silvia’s country falls apart after a coup, she flees to London. Picked up by the police, she is dumped for weeks in a bed-and-breakfast, then rescued by cold intellectuals. She finds she is a nuisance to one side and a cause to the other - until she meets another, earlier, refugee; and then she has a surprise for everyone.

When Silvia’s country falls apart after a coup, she flees to London. Picked up by the police, she is dumped for weeks in a bed-and-breakfast with a crazy landlady, then rescued by cold intellectuals. She finds she is a nuisance to one side and a cause to the other, with no dreams, family or opinions of her own. Until she meets another, earlier, refugee; and then she has a surprise for everyone. The Lost Baggage of Silvia Guzmán is a story of flight, loss and the pain of exile. But it is also a sideways look at liberal London – perceptive, caustic and sometimes very funny.

Mike Robbins is a former journalist and development worker who currently lives in New York. He is the author of four books: Even the Dead are Coming (2009), a memoir of working in Sudan; Crops and Carbon (2011), about the links between agriculture and climate change; The Nine Horizons, a collection of travel pieces; and The Lost Baggage of Silvia Guzmán, a novel.