Left Parenthesis

August 16, 2022novel | pb | 96 pgs.5" x 8" 978-1-948830-52-2 •  The narrator of this novel, a writer, arrives by train at Casetes Beach with her month-old daughter on her back. She prepares to spend a few weeks in one of the cottages by the sand. Her husband has recently passed away and she needs to open the parenthesis of her life: to forget something, and to discover something else. But the appearance of an overly assertive starfish precedes a series of disturbing events, and as the narrator begins to lose a hold on reality, we are immersed in the uncertain territory of allegory. With a lively and direct style and overwhelming poetic force, Muriel Villanueva guides us through the daily motions of life, and at the same time a fantastic journey of a woman in search of her own maturity. Translated from the Catalan by Megan Berkobien and María Cristina HallIllustrations by Aitana Carrasco    •  About the Author:  Muriel Villanueva (Valencia, 1976) is a writer of novels, short stories,