Argentinian writer Mariana Enriquez exploded on to the literary scene with her collections of grotesque, disturbing stories Things We Lost in the Fire and the International Booker prize-shortlisted The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, which explored violence against women and the aftermath of the horror of her country’s dictatorship. Her first novel translated into English, Our Share of Night, had a more mixed reception, but her new collection of tales, translated by Megan McDowell, reminds us why she’s one of the best modern practitioners of the form.
Enriquez has never been one to pussyfoot about when she can achieve her effects by grabbing the reader hard. Her earlier collections featured body horror – a girl pulling out her fingernails with her teeth; a woman throttling a zombie baby – that became part of a movement for literary dystopias from South American female writers, including Samanta Schweblin and Fernanda Trías.
