Dead Lands — Nuria Bendicho

Translated by Maruxa Relano and Martha Tennent

A violent death unleashes the story of a cursed lineage. Jon was shot in the back, in an isolated house where the only otheroccupants were his family. Who pulled the trigger? Thirteen characters.

Thirteen different points of view. Dead Lands is a kaleidoscopic narrative that unfurls an atavistic universe where characters are burdened by savage origins,two deaths, and a dark secret. A literary descendant of William Faulkner's 'Absalom, Absalom!', the novel recalls the obsessive rhythm of Thomas Bernhard, and Merce Rodoreda's treatment of anguish in 'Death in Spring'.

Nuria Bendicho's work asks difficult questions about human nature and takes us into a sordid world, one from which it is difficult to emerge without feeling both anger and compassion.