Costa Rica — The Book Roads

Books from Costa Rica

Jaquira Díaz

In Puerto Rico, Maricarmen dreams of escaping the limitations of her working-class neighbourhood, el Caserío. At seventeen, she falls in love with Rey el Cantante, a charismatic local musician whose generosity makes him a hero to some residents and a target for the police. Their relationship defies her family’s expectations, and Maricarmen soon finds herself building a life with Rey, raising their daughter, Nena, and caring for his younger brother. But addiction, violence, and painful betrayals gradually threaten the family she has fought to protect. Fifteen years later, a murder investigation forces Maricarmen and Nena to confront the consequences of their shared past. As Nena struggles with grief and explores her sexual identity, mother and daughter must navigate their complicated relationship and a community divided by loyalty, prejudice, and loss. Spanning generations, This Is the Only Kingdom is an intimate portrait of family, belonging, and survival, exploring how love can sustain people even as inherited wounds threaten to tear them apart.

2025

Crocodilopolis

John Manuel Arias

Born into a powerful Costa Rican political dynasty, brothers Seth and Osario Oreamundo grow up surrounded by privilege, ambition, and family secrets. Decades later, Seth finds himself exiled in Washington, D.C., convinced that his younger brother is responsible for his downfall. Driven by revenge, he plots a return to Costa Rica that threatens to unleash the family’s darkest secrets. Blending the drama of a family saga with biblical mythology and the absurdity of a political telenovela, this darkly compelling novel explores how power, rivalry, and inherited expectations can shape a nation’s destiny.

2026

Where There Was Fire

John Manuel Arias

In Costa Rica, 1968, a devastating fire at a banana plantation destroys evidence of a corporate cover-up, while a family is shattered by murder and a father’s sudden disappearance. Nearly three decades later, Teresa and her estranged daughter, Lyra, must confront the secrets that have haunted them for years. Blending family drama, ancestral spirits, and the legacy of corporate exploitation, this atmospheric novel explores how buried truths and inherited trauma can shape generations.

2023

Famous authors from Costa Rica

About Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a small Central American country known for its extraordinary biodiversity, volcanic landscapes, tropical forests, and coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Its culture combines Indigenous, Spanish, Afro-Caribbean, and contemporary influences, while cities such as San José provide a lively cultural center surrounded by mountains and fertile highlands.

Region: North America

Literary Context

Costa Rican literature developed strongly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, initially influenced by European literary traditions and the country’s changing social and political landscape. Joaquín García Monge, one of the country’s most influential intellectuals, helped shape modern Costa Rican literary culture through his writing and publishing work. Later writers expanded Costa Rican literature toward social realism, political criticism, questions of identity, and everyday life. Important figures include Carmen Lyra, whose Cuentos de mi tía Panchita became a classic of Costa Rican literature, as well as Carlos Luis Fallas, whose novel Mamita Yunai examines labor exploitation and social inequality. Contemporary Costa Rican writing often explores migration, urban life, memory, gender, environmental concerns, and the tension between local identity and globalization.