This World Does Not Belong to Us

Description

Secrets and revenge converge in this chilling tale from a breakout new Latin American voice Lucas returns to his childhood home in rural Ecuador to discover that it has been taken over by two strangers. His mother's beloved garden lies in ruins, the walls are slowly crumbling and the house that was once so alive seems to be rotting before his eyes. Lucas takes refuge in the dark underworld of insects, comforted by their beauty, their ingenuity, their perfection. Only they have survived the strangers' invasion. Only they can help Lucas take revenge. Part prose poem, part psychological thriller, This World Does Not Belong to Us is a captivatingly dark story about betrayal, regret and deception, from an explosive new literary talent.

Natalia Garcia Freire is a journalist and author from Cuenca, Ecuador. She has a Master's degree in Creative Writing from the Escuela de Escritores in Madrid, and alongside her writing she now teaches Creative Writing at the University of Azuay in Ecuador. This World Does Not Belong to Us was first published in Spanish in 2019. It is her debut novel.

'A deliciously menacing read which I just couldn't put down. Every word punches hard. This World Does Not Belong to Us treads the fine line between beauty and horror effortlessly.' -- Jan Carson, author of The Raptures 'One of the debut novels that most stood out this year in Latin America.' -- New York Times 'The disquieting and visceral story of a banished son's revenge... Garcia Freire unearths a brilliant sense of the miraculous from the swarming and putrid subject matter. The result is beautifully macabre.' -- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review 'Visceral prose captures Lucas's obsession with death, bugs, and other unpleasant aspects of life... There is a strange, unconventional beauty to his morbid world.' -- Foreword Reviews 'Ecuadorian writer Natalia Garcia Freire shows an astonishingly mature style in her debut novel.' * El Pais * 'Who would have thought that a novel so overflowing with animals, insects, flowers, and shrubs could teach us so much about ourselves?' -- Latin American Literature Today 'Tremendous, a delight.' -- Monica Ojeda, author of Mandibula 'Garcia Freire takes us to the deepest parts of the human condition.' -- Pagina Dos 'This World Does Not Belong to Us leads the reader into the deepest, darkest regions of human existence, where what is most infected and rotten becomes beautiful and liberating.' -- Toda Literatura 'Why do we need to read this book? Because like all good literature, as full of inventions as it may seem, it contains a core of truth about human nature. We need to read this book because we are all parents or children and at some point we have questioned or question what it is to be a father, what it is to be a child.' -- Recordo 'Natalia Garcia Freire is unbelievably young to have written a first work of such talent.' -- Relatos en construccion 'There's an echo of Juan Rulfo's Pedro Paramo in this novel. The return home, the search for a father or at least the memory of him. The ghosts. Only here, instead of the murmurs, we have a constant buzzing of insects and the noise of animals.' -- Maria Jose Navia, author of Sant 'I am moved by its tenderness, the shadow of its flight, the kingdom it comes from. Insect and poverty. Larva and death.' -- Dara Scully, author of Animal de Nieve 'A brooding tale of broken relationships, betrayal and - just possibly - redemption... A remarkably assured work. In prose that is both poetic and earthy, Natalia Garcia Freire spins her evocation of the natural world and humanity's place in it with care and precision.' -- New Internationalist 'Skilful and unnerving... A masterpiece in atmosphere and the power of perspective. Garcia Freire is an author in full control of estimable powers and effectively translated by Victor Meadowcroft, who captures the subtlety at work in the narrative voice, as well as its audacious confidence.' -- Litro Magazine