A richly imaginative, surreal and deeply moving novel from Argentina about a group of travesti sex workers who adopt a baby boy

[NB. if this is too long we can cut the Fernanda Melchor quote - or some of these international prizes]


LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY PRIZE
WINNER OF THE SOR JUANA DE LA CRUZ PRIZE
WINNER OF THE PREMIO DE NARRATIVA EN CASTELLANO
WINNER OF THE GRAND PRIX DE L'HÉROÏNE

'The story of a boarding house of trans sex workers who discover and raise a baby in Córdoba, Argentina ... stuffed with marvels, humour, political critique and storytelling' Torrey Peters, Guardian
Auntie Encarna's is the queerest boarding house in the world. For Camila, it is a refuge, and the travesti who gather there are like family. At night they head out to Sarmiento Park to earn money. They stand together in the cold, sharing stories and a hip flask of whiskey, waiting for a car to slow down. Until, one freezing evening, Auntie Encarna hears crying in the bushes and wades in to investigate. When she finds an abandoned baby boy, she will hear no arguments: she is bringing him home to care for him. Life for Camila and the others will never be the same again.


'A literary sensation' Rolling Stone (Argentina)


'Taking a page from writers like Gabriel García Marquez or Roberto Bolaño, Villada's work blends a stark depiction of violence and trauma with a distinctly queer magical realism' Apartment Therapy


'A beautiful novel, moving, disturbing, raw and honest ... charged with poetic energy' Fernanda Melchor, author of Hurricane Season