by Deborah Levy
First published 2019
Sofia travels with her mother to a remote Spanish village nestled between desert and sea. Her mother suffers from sudden paralysis that confines her to a wheelchair, though doctors cannot explain the condition. Sofia has spent years trying to understand this baffling illness that strikes without warning. The oppressive heat surrounds them as her mother begins treatments with Dr. Gomez, whose methods prove unconventional. Sofia waits and watches, drawn into the strange dynamics of the people around her. The desert setting intensifies everything as she questions whether her mother's condition might be psychological rather than physical. The relationship between mother and daughter grows more complex as Sofia struggles to separate her own identity from her mother's overwhelming presence. She must finally confront the fragments of who she is apart from this consuming family dynamic. The novel examines the fierce and sometimes destructive nature of the maternal bond, pushing the connection between parent and child to its limits.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-dynamics, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Spain, Spanish Village
Period: 21st-century
224 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books Canada
Content warnings: medical-trauma, mental-illness