The Bitch - by Pilar Quintana (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN TRANSLATION

"A perfect book." --Kiran Desai, author of The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

"Unforgettable. . . a powerful, jolting tale about class, motherhood and rage." --The Guardian

In this intense, spare, brilliantly observed novel, a woman's dangerously primal feelings are awakened when she adopts an orphaned puppy

On a bluff overlooking Colombia's rough Pacific coast, at the edge of the jungle--a world where nothing is taken for granted -Damaris lives in a shack with her fisherman husband. Her dream of a child unfulfilled and the warmth of her marriage cooled, she has reached the age "when women dry up," as her uncle puts it. When the opportunity arises, she takes in a motherless puppy with eagerness and immediate affection. She does not yet know the risk she is taking in forging a bond that touches her most painful losses and her tenderest yearnings.

In prose as terse as the villagers Damaris lives among, The Bitch evokes the double-edged force of the instinct to nurture and the desperate desire to be nurtured in turn.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Bitch

"The magic of this sparse novel is its ability to talk about many things, all of them important, while seemingly talking about something else entirely. What are those things? Violence, loneliness, resilience, cruelty. Quintana works wonders with her disillusioned, no-nonsense, powerful prose."-- Juan Gabriel Vásquez, author of The Sound of Things Falling

"Unforgettable. . . a powerful, jolting tale about class, motherhood and rage." --The Guardian

"A perfect book." --Kiran Desai, author of The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

"Quintana uncovers wounds we didn't know we had, shows us their beauty, and then throws a handful of salt into them." --Yuri Herrera, author of Signs Preceding the End of the World

"This book changes you. It looks deeply into motherhood, cruelty and just how unyielding nature can be, as gorgeous as it is brutal. The result is unforgettable." --Mariana Enriquez, author of Somebody is Walking on Your Grave

"Sardonic and pitch-black. . .slices all the way down to the bone." --Vox

"Her books thrum with a feverish, propulsive, gorgeous sense of beauty. Pilar Quintana is a marvel." --Ingrid Rojas Contreras, author of Fruit of the Drunken Tree

"Quintana has created a psychological tale that sweeps and drags us like the waves of the sea."--El Tiempo

"A heartrending portrait of loneliness and womanhood. . . challenging, relentless, honest, and gorgeously told."-- Electric Literature

"The world of The Bitch is heartbreakingly true, it's there, closer than we think, and yet remains invisible."--El Pais

"A vivid, powerful book, with a tragic core."--The Sunday Times

"A very sensual book that gets under your skin. An overwhelming exploration of maternal desire in the beautiful landscapes of Colombia." --Leila Slimani, author of The Perfect Nanny

"A powerful book about a woman in revolt who doesn't give in to suffering. This short but intense novel's tour de force is its portrayal of a sordid violence about to explode at any second."--Le Monde

"A searing psychological portrait of a troubled woman contending with her instinct to nurture . . . The brutal scenes unfold quickly, with lean, stinging prose. Quintana's vivid novel about love, betrayal, and abandonment hits hard."--Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

"A gorgeous heartbreak of a novel."--Book Riot

About the Author

Pilar Quintana is a Colombian novelist who has also worked as a screenwriter and copywriter. The translations of her most recent novels, The Bitch and Abyss, were both shortlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. She has also won the Alfaguara Novel Prize and the Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana. She lives in Bogota.

Lisa Dillman is an award-winning translator of Spanish, Catalan, and Latin American writers who teaches at Emery University in Atlanta.