Matthieu Peck
Descent to Bahia

Forthcoming: October, 2026

The protagonist of Peck’s novel is the young journalist Martin Reger, who leaves Paris for the Brazilian state of Bahia, where he is to write a report on the painter Pol Taburet. In the streets of the coastal city Salvador and in the studio where they spend their nights, the two men forge an intense friendship. The protagonist wanders through a world unknown to him, from churches, markets, and obscure corners of the city, to the jungle, where he and the painter go to meet a spirit priest. Reger’s humour, precise sense of observation and louche attitude make for an invigorating travel journal, with piercing yet intimate evocations of Bahia’s effervescence as much as its dark side. The author deciphers Taburet’s pictorial practice with the erudition of a writer rather than art critic offering a fresh perspective on the essence of painting. With Descent to Bahia, Matthieu Peck confirms his talent as one of the eminent prose stylists of his generation. The novel is a subtle sketch of a man who, through art and camaraderie, comes back to life.