Until the Last Wave

They called him Bachi. This is the story of Ramón.

He was born in Maracaibo, the son of a Colonel and of Vivi, a singer with an unforgettable voice. He grew up in Valencia, in a house with a mango tree, where he played at being a general and gave orders to his sister and brothers. In the Caracas of his teenage years he became Bachi: the surfer who rode the waves no one else dared to take and the handsome young man every girl wanted to dance with.

But life also sent him waves he could not ride. A love that came too young, a marriage society imposed on them, two daughters who arrived too soon, and the parties and bad company that broke his family apart. Jealousy, sorrow and the courage to ask for help. His daughters' forgiveness, his mother's faithful companionship and, in the end, a house by the sea on Margarita Island, where he was happy surrounded by his grandchildren, until distance and goodbyes marked his heart once more.

Until the Last Wave is the honest portrait of a real life, with its light and its shadows. An illustrated tribute to a man who loved the sea above all else, and a reminder of what truly matters:

• That youth passes faster than we think.
• That asking for help is an act of courage.
• That forgiveness can heal the deepest wounds.
• That we never know when the last hug will be.

With color illustrations in every chapter, this book is for anyone who has loved an imperfect father, for anyone who has had to say goodbye from far away, and for everyone who has ever found peace by the sea.

Because some lives don't fit inside a photograph: they need the whole sea to be told.