First published 2026
Ignacio sits in his Bogotá apartment wearing blonde wigs, chain smoking through telenovelas while his teenage daughter Valentina fends for herself. Her mother drowned under circumstances Valentina desperately wants to understand. Ignacio cannot pull himself from his spiral of grief and guilt over a young man he once loved and abandoned. His listless days stretch on until Mamadora Eléctrica returns to their lives. This wise travesti once guided Ignacio through Colombia's underground queer world years ago. Now she steps in as a mother figure for Valentina, recognizing that Ignacio's self-hatred threatens to destroy what remains of their fractured family. Mamadora worries that his pain has cursed them all. The story moves between Ignacio's dark memories and Valentina's urgent need for answers about her mother's death. At its heart lies a daughter's love for a father who has forgotten how to live.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Bogotá, Colombia
336 pages · Hardcover · Liveright
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness