Banco is a 1973 novel by Henri Charrière

Henri Charrière

Henri Charrière was a convicted murderer chiefly known as the author of Papillon, a hugely successful memoir of his incarceration in and escape from a penal colony in French Guiana....

, it is a sequel to his previous novel Papillon

Papillon (autobiography)

Papillon is a memoir by convicted felon and fugitive Henri Charrière, first published in France in 1969. It became an instant bestseller. It was translated into English from the original French by June P. Wilson and Walter B. Michaels for a 1970 edition, and by author Patrick O'Brian...

. It documents Charrière's life in Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

, where he arrived after his escape from the penal colony

Penal colony

A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...

 on Devil's Island

Devil's Island

Devil's Island is the smallest and northernmost island of the three Îles du Salut located about 6 nautical miles off the coast of French Guiana . It has an area of 14 ha . It was a small part of the notorious French penal colony in French Guiana until 1952...

.

Banco is written as an autobiography, like its predecessor, although there are some questions about how much of the content is fictional. Continuing straight from Papillon, Banco tells of Henri's stubborn efforts to bring justice to those who sent him on his perilous mission. Banco is told in the same gripping way of Papillon and provides some much-needed answers to questions left open in the previous novel.