Things We Lost in the Fire

The original novel was published in 2016. Translated by Megan McDowell.

In these wildly imaginative, devilishly daring tales of the macabre, internationally bestselling author Mariana Enriquez brings contemporary Argentina to vibrant life as a place where shocking inequality, violence, and corruption are the law of the land, while military dictatorship and legions of desaparecidos loom large in the collective memory. In these stories, reminiscent of Shirley Jackson and Julio Cortázar, three young friends distract themselves with drugs and pain in the midst a government-enforced blackout; a girl with nothing to lose steps into an abandoned house and never comes back out; to protest a viral form of domestic violence, a group of women set themselves on fire.

But alongside the black magic and disturbing disappearances, these stories are fueled by compassion for the frightened and the lost, ultimately bringing these characters — mothers and daughters, husbands and wives — into a surprisingly familiar reality. Written in hypnotic prose that gives grace to the grotesque, Things We Lost in the Fire is a powerful exploration of what happens when our darkest desires are left to roam unchecked, and signals the arrival of an astonishing and necessary voice in contemporary fiction.

Contents:

• The Dirty Kid (El chico sucio)
• The Inn (La hostería)
• The Intoxicated Years (Los años intoxicados)
• Adela's House (La casa de Adela)
• An Invocation of the Big-Eared Runt (Pablito clavó un clavito: Una evocación del Petiso Orejudo)
• Spiderweb (Tela de araña)
• End of Term (Fin de curso)
• No Flesh Over Our Bones (Nada de carne sobre nosotras)
• The Neighbor's Courtyard (El patio del vecino)
• Under the Black Water (Bajo el agua negra)
• Green Red Orange (Verde rojo anaranjado)
• Things We Lost in the Fire (Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego)