New and Exciting Books in Translation by Katie

The first book pushes the boundaries in terms of if its exciting, however I found it fascinating and, at 99 pages long, it’s a very quick but shocking read. The landscape and violence are worthy of Cormac McCarthy. Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia is set in a slaughterhouse in an impoverished part of Brazil. Animals go mad and men die (accidentally and not). The cows are so unsettled they have begun to run in panic into walls and over cliffs. Bronco Gil, the foreman, thinks it’s a jaguar or a wild boar. Edgar Wilson has other suspicions. But what is certain is that there is something in this desolate corner of Brazil driving men, and animals, to murder and madness. This book has won not one but two awards: the translator Zoë Perry won the inaugural Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation and the book also won the Republic of Consciousness prize, which recognises books from small publishers.

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The second translated fiction is Time of the Flies by Claudia Pineiro, translated by Frances Riddle who has translated previous books for Charco press. This book has an interesting premise. Inés is fresh out of prison after serving fifteen years for killing her husband’s lover. Her old friend Manca is out now too, and they’ve started a business FFF—Females, Fumigation, and Flies—dedicated to pest control and private investigation, by women, for women. But Señora Bonar, one of their clients, wants Inés to do more than kill bugs; she wants her expertise, and her criminal past, to help her kill her husband’s lover, too. If that hasn't caught your attention in either a good or bad way I’m not sure what will. Time of the Flies is published on the 6th August 2024.

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The third book is A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, which was translated by Megan McDowell. This is her first story collection since the International Booker Prize-shortlisted The Dangers of Smoking in Bed. Enriquez once again mixes love, womanhood, LGBTQ+ counterculture, parenthood and Argentina's past into macabre horror stories. This short story collection is a total of 272 pages, which is far more manageable than Our Share of Night (over 700 pages). A Sunny Place for Shady People is published on the 26th September 2024.

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