Fiction – Horror – Ghosts – World Literature – Spain

Translated by: Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott

RELEASE DATE: 5/14/2024(WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER’S WAREHOUSE)

The house breathes. The house contains bodies and secrets. The house is visited by ghosts, by angels that line the roof like insects, and by saints that burn the bedsheets with their haloes. It was built by a smalltime hustler as ameans of controlling his wife, and even after so many years, their daughter and her granddaughter cant leave. They may be witches or they may just be angry, but when the mysterious disappearance of a young boy draws unwanted attention, the two isolated women, already subjects of public scorn, combine forces with the spirits that haunt them in pursuit of something that resembles justice.

Inthis lush translation by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott,Layla Martinezs eerie debut novel is class-conscious horror that drags generations of monsters into the sun. Described by Mariana Enriquez asahouse of women and shadows, built from poetry and revenge,this vision of a broken family in our unjust world places power in the hands of the eccentric, the radical, and the desperate.

AUTHOR BIO:

Layla Martnez(Madrid, 1987) is the author of two nonfiction books in Spanish,Surrogate Pregnancy(Pepitas de calabaza, 2019) andUtopia is not an Island(Episkaia, 2020), as well as stories and articles in numerous anthologies. She has translated essays and novels, writes about music forEl Salto,and about television forLa ltima Hora. Since 2014 she has co-directed the independent publisher Antipersona.Woodwormis her first novel.

Sophie Hughesis a British literary translator who primarily translates from Spanish to English. She has translated more than a dozen books, including the works of Jos Revueltas and Enrique Vila-Matas for New Directions. She was shortlisted for the 2019 and 2020 International Booker Prize.

Annie McDermottis a translator working from Spanish and Portuguese. Her published and forthcoming translations includeEmpty WordsandThe Luminous Novelby Mario Levrero,Dead GirlsandBrickmakersby Selva Almada,Feeblemindedby Ariana Harwicz (co-translation with Carolina Orloff), andLoopby Brenda Lozano. She also reviews books for theTimes Literary Supplement. She has previously lived in Mexico City and So Paulo, Brazil, and now lives by the sea in Hastings, UK.