We're thrilled to unveil May's book subscription selection: Un Amor by Sara Mesa, translated from Spanish by Katie Whittemore.
Nat, a translator, finds herself in the small Spanish village of La Escapa. She rents a crumbling house from a landlord who scares her. Her neigbours strike her as judgemental and closed-minded. She gets a dog, who causes her nothing but trouble despite her best efforts to tame him. She makes a friend, an ally, but even that relationship is tense.
Things start to shift when the roof of her house starts to leak. Hesitant to involve the landlord, she finds herself in an unusual position when one of the town’s residents offer to fix it. But is she willing to pay the price?
Sarah Mesa’s writing – and Katie Whittemore’s translation – is minimalist but precise. The prose paints a vivid picture of a small Spanish village, its tensions, and its inner darkness. In one sentence she can bring a character into being, leaving us wanting to dig deeper below the surface.
Need a copy? Find it on our shop.