the Estancia by Martín cullen

This is the story of a young boy growing up in the upper classes of Argentina in the 1950s.

It reveals a now vanished society and the families of the great houses of Buenos Aires and the umbilical cord of the estancias which feed them. Through the eyes of the precocious ten-year-old we explore an intense, claustrophobic world of family matriarchs and of sophisticated facades concealing a turbulent Latin criollismo.

Martín thinks he has escaped from the steamy bathroom rituals of his mother and his aunts when he is taken on a cruise to Europe by his elderly but commanding great aunt. We follow him on his inner journey of self discovery, a vividly described panorama of the old New World seen through the boy’s eyes, from which there are no real escapes, only a poignant return to the matriarchs who shape his whole life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Martín Cullen is a journalist, a psychotherapist and writer. He is Argentine and writes in both Spanish and English. He was born in Buenos Aires and lives there and in London. His other book, which he is currently writing, is Mendigos a Caballo (Beggars on Horseback). He is married with two sons.

REVIEWS

"As a distillation of the complex puchero stew that is Argentinian identity – culturally in thrall to Europe long after independence from Spain – The Estancia is unbeatable  ... a superb meditation on memory: the past is another  country  ...  this is an immersive, beautifully crafted novel."

 — Juanita Coulson, The Lady

"I was reminded of Proust’s Combray when reading Martín Cullen’s moving and detailed evocation of a childhood spent among the sophisticated environs of Calle Juncas in central Buenos Aires and on several family estancias during the early 1950s.
[…] Written in prose that is often poetic […] The Estancia is a valuable record of a society that has now disappeared."

— Euan Cameron, Catholic Herald

"The Estancia is a marvel of poise and the high classical style... the writing has an incisive photographic clarity…the boy Cullen is a Tintin-like anomaly in his 1920s knickerbockers and beret...taken to France by his great-aunt Tía Tiode, a character out of Graham Greene's Travels with My Aunt."

— Ian Thomson, The Tablet

"Deliciously unsettling ... the voice, whether novelist’s or autobiographer’s, is unforgettable."

— Jonathan Keates, The Literary Review

Martín Cullen’s interview with Monocle Radio is available to stream here. He discusses The Estancia and growing up in upper class Argentina in the 1950s.

5* READER REVIEWS

The Estancia is a book or great depth and emotional sensitivity and imagination, a South American world now disappeared from view brought magically to life all through the eyes of the 10yr old narrator. As an evocation of a time past it is wonderful and immersive and left me thinking about it long after I'd finished. I would highly recommend it.

— Matt Gerrish, Amazon reviewer

This is a dense rich and deeply satisfying journey into a faded Argentinian world. The narrator has the complexity and sensitivity of a poet and flexes his insight with all the care and ruthlessness of a surgeons probing knife. A delightful read.

— Nick Pearson, Amazon reviewer

This extraordinary novel, based on the writer's memories of growing-up in the Argentine in the late 1950s, is completely fascinating, written through the eyes of a ten-year old boy, a boy who is remarkably observant and takes one into the world of his adoring grandmother and aunts, with all the strange undercurrents of jealousy and social distinction. The intimate descriptions of these women is almost disturbing, but Martin Cullen's use of language is so unusual and original that one is completely captivated. It is a marvellous book.

— Caroline Cuthbert, Amazon reviewer