From the National Book Award longlisted author of Rabbit Island comes a new collection of stories that straddle the line between the horrific and the fantastic.
A young couple’s washing machine fills with blood; a man saves animals who have been hit along the highway, turning his home in a peculiar zoo; the security guard of a half-built housing development suffers from hallucinations; a young woman struggles to understand the cruel neglect of the Parisian suburbs.
This is a world of precarious jobs, towns in the middle of nowhere, abandoned buildings, and cities that are nothing more than blocks of concrete whose contours Elvira Navarro distorts to the point of giving reality the consistency of a nightmare. In an almost imperceptible way, the disturbing infiltrates the lives of these men and women until they find themselves alone at the end of a dark road, afraid to turn around.
Praise
Praise for Elvira Navarro
“Navarro, a Spanish writer, deploys surrealism to comic, haunting effect.”—The New York Times
“[Navarro] is a master anatomist of class and, particularly, money—both its power and the maddening indignity of its lack.”—Los Angeles Times
“Elvira Navarro is one of the greatest Spanish writers of today. A precise and meticulous surgeon of the heart’s most hidden emotions.”—Manuel Vilas, author of Ordesa
“This author’s literary talent is a natural gift…the subtle, almost hidden, true avant-gardist of her generation.”—Enrique Vila-Matas, author of Mac’s Problem
Elvira Navarro (Huelva, Spain, 1978) has published both novels and short stories. Her novel A Working Woman, which addresses the impact of the economic crisis on the contemporary female experience, has established her as a leading voice in Spanish literature. She has been the recipient of numerous significant accolades in Spain, including the Jaén Novel Prize and the Andalusian Critics’ Prize. Additionally, Granta magazine has identified her as one of the twenty-two most distinguished Spanish writers under the age of thirty-five. Her collection of short stories, Rabbit Island, has been nominated for the 2021 National Book Award for Foreign Literature. Her most recent novel, The Voices of Adriana, has been awarded the 2023 Cálamo Special Prize.
Christina MacSweeney’s work has been recognized in a number of important awards, and her translation of Valeria Luiselli’s The Story of My Teeth was awarded the Valle Inclán Translation Prize and also shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. Her most recent translations include works by Daniel Saldaña París, Elvira Navarro, Verónica Gerber Bicecci, Julián Herbert, and Karla Suárez.
Sarah Rose Etter is the author of RIPE (Scribner), and The Book of X (Two Dollar Radio), winner of the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award. Her short fiction collection, Tongue Party, was selected by Deb Olin Unferth to be published as the winner of the 2011 Caketrain Award. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, TIME, BOMB, The Cut, VICE, and more.
