First published 2025
Marina Espinosa lives as a doctor's wife, tending to domestic routines until a car crash changes everything. The accident becomes her escape route from a bland existence with her prominent husband. She transforms into Xian, a freer and more mysterious version of herself. Marina takes refuge in an old hotel where she unearths letters and captures moments on her laptop. These fragments span different time periods, weaving together news snippets, historical details, and memories of abandonment and abuse. She becomes an investigator of her own inner angels and demons, searching for clues that will solve the puzzle of Xian's existence. As another wanderer in the Great City, Marina explores every corner and public space, including Verde Shanghai, a Chinese café that exists as a threshold between truth and lies, heaven and hell.
Genres: literary-fiction, mystery, contemporary
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: transformation, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Shanghai, China
Period: 21st-century
296 pages · Paperback · Debolsillo
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence