Julianne Pachico
Julianne Pachico has published 4 books across 2 series. The recommended reading order starts with The Tourists (1900).
Julianne Pachico is a British-American author of literary fiction. Born in Cambridge, England, she spent her childhood in Cali, Colombia, where her parents worked as agricultural social scientists. She later moved to Portland, Oregon, to earn a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Reed College, before returning to England for her M.A. in Prose Fiction and her PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia. Pachico has lectured in Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University and taught at UEA. Pachico made her debut with the 2014 novella The Tourists, followed by her first full-length novel, The Lucky Ones, in 2017. Her literary fiction often explores themes of identity and displacement, drawing from her unique bicultural upbringing and academic background. The author's work has been recognized for its nuanced character development and evocative prose.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Short Stories/Novellas
- Tagsshort-storiesDescriptionViolence hums beneath the surface of everyday life in Colombia, a constant undercurrent that shapes everything without always announcing itself. Julianne Pachico's debut collection moves through the lives of those touched by the country's decades-long conflict—expatriate families, wealthy locals, guerrilla fighters, and the young people caught between worlds they never chose. These nine interconnected stories follow characters as they navigate the peculiar dissonance of growing up amid beauty and danger, where gated communities exist alongside kidnappings, where childhood games blur into survival strategies. Pachico writes with a haunting lyricism that captures how trauma doesn't always arrive as a single catastrophic event but seeps into the fabric of daily existence, altering perceptions and relationships in ways both subtle and profound. Her Colombia is lush and claustrophobic, a place where the privileged attempt normalcy while the ground shifts beneath them, where the past refuses to stay buried and the future remains uncertain. The collection builds its power through accumulation, each story adding another layer to a portrait of a nation and its people marked by violence yet refusing to be defined solely by it.Publication dateJanuary 1, 1900Amazon rating5/5LanguageEnglishPublisherGARDNERS VI BOOKS AMS006
Order of Standalone Novels
- Tagsliterary-fictionshort-storieschildrenmysterysuspensethrillerDescriptionWhat does it mean to survive when survival itself becomes a kind of haunting? Julianne Pachico's "The Lucky Ones" examines lives shaped by Colombia's decades-long conflict. The book moves through interconnected stories. Each one circles back to a group of girls at a boarding school in the mountains. Violence hums beneath the surface. It's always there, even in moments of apparent safety. Pachico writes with restraint. She lets the silences speak. The prose is cool, almost clinical, but the emotional undertow is fierce. The structure fractures time. Past and present bleed together. Characters reappear in different contexts, older or younger, caught in the same web of trauma and complicity. This is not a book that offers easy answers or redemptive arcs. It asks harder questions about privilege, about who gets to escape and who doesn't. Pachico, who grew up in Colombia during the height of the conflict, writes with the authority of lived proximity. Her debut feels urgent and necessary. It refuses to look away from what violence does to the people who live in its shadow, even the ones who think they got out unscathed.Publication dateMarch 7, 2017Amazon rating3.7/5Print length272LanguageEnglishPublisherRandom House
- Tagsliterary-fictionhorrorDescriptionThe air is thick with something unspoken, a tension that clings like humidity to skin. Julianne Pachico's *The Anthill* settles into that uncomfortable space where the ordinary and the unsettling blur, where the familiar becomes strange and the strange becomes inescapable. This is a novel that understands dislocation—the way violence and unease can seep into the cracks of everyday life, reshaping everything from within. Pachico crafts a world where characters navigate landscapes both physical and psychological, where the past refuses to stay buried and the present feels perpetually off-kilter. The prose moves with deliberate precision, each sentence weighted with meaning. What emerges is a portrait of lives caught in the aftermath of trauma, where survival means learning to live with what cannot be undone. The narrative doesn't offer easy answers or tidy resolutions. Instead, it lingers in the difficult spaces between memory and forgetting, between staying and leaving. Pachico writes with the confidence of someone who knows that the most profound disturbances are often the quietest ones. *The Anthill* is a novel that demands attention, that asks readers to sit with discomfort and recognize the ways we're all shaped by forces beyond our control. It's unsettling, atmospheric, and impossible to shake.Publication dateMay 12, 2020Amazon rating3.7/5Print length320LanguageEnglishPublisherDoubleday
- Tagsdystopiansci-fiDescriptionA woman returns to Colombia, to the house where she grew up, and the jungle begins to reclaim what was always its own. Julianne Pachico's *Jungle House* tracks this homecoming with the precision of a naturalist and the unease of a ghost story, watching as the boundaries between past and present, cultivated and wild, dissolve in the humid air. The house itself becomes a character—crumbling, overgrown, thick with memory and the particular violence of a country that never quite lets go of its children. Pachico writes Colombia not as backdrop but as living tissue, a place where the landscape presses in and the past isn't buried so much as waiting. Her prose is spare and strange, attuned to the small horrors of return: the way a room can feel both familiar and wrong, the way silence in the jungle is never really silent. What sets this novel apart is its refusal to explain itself. Pachico trusts the reader to follow her into the undergrowth, to sit with discomfort, to understand that some stories don't resolve—they simply grow over you. It's a book about inheritance and erasure, about what we carry back to the places we fled, and what those places demand in return. Unsettling and hypnotic.Publication dateAugust 15, 2024Amazon rating3.8/5Print length208LanguageEnglishPublisherSerpent's Tail
Frequently Asked Questions about Julianne Pachico
Julianne Pachico's books can be read in any order. She writes standalone novels and a collection of short stories/novellas. If you prefer to follow publication order, begin with The Tourists, then The Lucky Ones, followed by The Anthill, and most recently Jungle House. This timeline allows you to see the development of her writing over time. However, since each book is a self-contained story, starting with any of them will provide a complete reading experience. Readers often find a particular theme or style in one book that draws them to another, so the order of discovery is also a valid way to approach her work.
A good starting point for Julianne Pachico's books is The Lucky Ones, published in 2017. This novel offers a compelling introduction to her narrative style and thematic concerns. Alternatively, readers interested in shorter fiction might begin with The Tourists, a collection of short stories and novellas. Both The Lucky Ones and The Anthill, published in 2020, are standalone novels that do not require prior reading. Jungle House, her most recent publication, is also a standalone work. Choosing any of these will provide a solid entry into her distinctive literary world.
No, you do not have to read Julianne Pachico's books in order. She writes standalone novels and a collection of short stories/novellas. Each book, including The Lucky Ones (2017), The Anthill (2020), and Jungle House (2024), functions as an independent story. Similarly, The Tourists, a collection of short stories and novellas, can be read without reference to her novels. Readers can select any title that catches their interest and enjoy it as a complete narrative. The publication order is one way to experience her work, but it is not a requirement for understanding or enjoyment.
Julianne Pachico writes standalone novels and a collection of short stories/novellas. Her novels, The Lucky Ones (2017), The Anthill (2020), and Jungle House (2024), are all individual works that do not form a continuous series. Readers can pick up any of these novels and experience a complete story without needing to read the others. Additionally, she has published The Tourists, which is a collection of short stories and novellas. This means her body of work consists of distinct, self-contained narratives rather than interconnected installments of a larger series.
Julianne Pachico has written four books. This includes a collection of short stories and novellas titled The Tourists. She has also published three standalone novels: The Lucky Ones in 2017, The Anthill in 2020, and Jungle House in 2024. Each of these novels is a separate, independent work. The collection of shorter fiction, The Tourists, is also a distinct offering. Therefore, her published output comprises one collection of shorter works and three individual novels, totaling four distinct book-length publications.
The first book Julianne Pachico wrote and published was The Tourists, a collection of short stories and novellas. This collection was released before her novels. Following this, she began publishing her standalone novels. The sequence of her novels begins with The Lucky Ones in 2017, followed by The Anthill in 2020, and most recently, Jungle House in 2024. While The Tourists represents her earliest published work, her novels offer a different form of storytelling that readers can also explore from its beginning with The Lucky Ones.
Julianne Pachico's most recent book is Jungle House, published in 2024. This novel is a standalone work, meaning it can be read independently of her other books. It follows her previous standalone novels, The Lucky Ones (2017) and The Anthill (2020), and her collection of short stories and novellas, The Tourists. Jungle House continues to explore themes and narrative styles present in her earlier works, offering readers a current example of her literary output. Its publication marks her latest contribution to contemporary fiction.
Julianne Pachico writes fiction that often explores themes of identity, memory, and the complexities of human relationships, frequently set against vivid backdrops. Her work includes standalone novels and a collection of short stories and novellas. While specific genre labels can be limiting, her writing often incorporates elements that might be associated with literary fiction, psychological fiction, and sometimes speculative fiction due to its exploration of nuanced realities and internal landscapes. Her narratives are characterized by a distinct voice and a careful construction of atmosphere and character.
Ian Tregillis
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John L. Campbell
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Shawn Burgess
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We verified the reading order for Julianne Pachico's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: April 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “Julianne Pachico Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/julianne-pachico