The Lacuna

The Lacuna tells the story of Harrison William Shepherd, beginning with a 1930s childhood divided between his mother in Mexico and his father in the United States. In Mexico he mixes plaster for the muralist Diego Rivera, cooks for Rivera and his wife, Frida Kahlo, with whom he forms a lifelong friendship, and works as a secretary to the exiled Leon Trotsky. He later moves to Asheville, North Carolina, where he writes successful historical novels set in Mexico, before being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Most of the book is made up of his diaries and papers, and its title refers to the gaps in the story.