A SPELLBINDINGLY CREEPY COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES, FROM AN ARGENTINIAN LITERARY STAR

'The Grimm brothers and Franz Kafka pay a visit to Argentina in Samanta Schweblin's darkly humorous tales.' J.M. Coetzee

Spine-tingling and unexpected, unearthly and strange, the stories of Mouthful of Birds are impossible to forget.

The crunch of a bird's wing.

A cloud of butterflies, so beautiful it smothers.

A crimson flash of blood across an artist's canvas.

Samanta Schweblin's writing expertly blurs the line between the surreal and the everyday, pulling the reader into a world that is at once nightmarish and beautiful. An exhilarating tour de force guaranteed to leave the pulse racing.

'This is our world, and sharp-focused, but stripped of its usual meanings... Brutal violence is twisted into horrific, intensely experienced art.' Guardian

*Longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, 2019*

A spellbinding collection of short stories from the Argentinian sensation Samanta Schweblin

About the Author

Samanta Schweblin won the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature for her story collection, Seven Empty Houses. Her debut novel, Fever Dream, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, and her novel Little Eyes and story collection Mouthful of Birds have been longlisted for the same prize. Her books have been translated into over forty languages, and her work has appeared in English in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine and elsewhere. Originally from Buenos Aires, Schweblin lives in Berlin.

Megan McDowell has translated books by many contemporary South American and Spanish authors, and her translations have won the National Book Award, the O. Henry Prize, the English PEN award and the Premio Valle-Inclan, and been nominated for the International Booker Prize four times. She lives in Chile.

Reviews

'Spritely and uncanny, this is a beautifully imagined and skilfully executed collection of stories.' International Booker Prize judges

'Delving into the cryptic depths of the human psyche, this is a highly imaginative and thought-provoking collection, deftly translated by Megan McDowell.' Observer

'In this slim and superb book, Schweblin takes on the desire to love, to parent, and to care for one's own body - hardly extraordinary themes - and invests them with a fresh poignancy.' Vogue

'Impressive... Schweblin is among the most acclaimed Spanish-language writers of her generation.' New York Times

'Schweblin's Man Booker-shortlisted novel Fever Dream was unsettling and uncanny and these 20 brilliant stories, translated by Megan McDowell, are just as fabulous... an eerie blend of the supernatural and the all too real.' Daily Mail

'Starting a story by the Argentinian Samanta Schweblin is like tumbling into a dark hole with no idea where you'll end up.' Chris Power, The Sunday Times

'[Schweblin's] particular genius lies in the fact that there's something inherently savage and ungovernable about her work.' Financial Times

'At once fantastically out there and real to the point of being haunting.' Vanity Fair

'The author of the magnetic, scalp-prickling Fever Dream returns with stories as gothic and incantatory as a telltale heart- virtuoso fiction from Argentina's own Edgar Allan Poe.' O, the Oprah Magazine

'So strange and beautiful.' Tommy Orange, author of There There

'These wild, unsettling, absurdist tales cement her status as a penetrating voice in modern fiction.' New Statesman

'Samanta Schweblin's strange, haunting and stunningly beautiful collection of short stories... Many of these stories got under my skin and lingered with me long after I'd put the book down.' Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters

'These are fictions of indisputable power, presenting modern life as a farcical horror show in which our limitations and destructive appetites have made us ugly, ridiculous and doomed.' Daily Telegraph

'Schweblin's imagination seemingly knows no bounds.' Refinery29

Awards
Long-listed for Man Booker International Prize 2019. Nominated for Shirley Jackson Award 2019.



Book Information
ISBN 9781786076694
Author Samanta Schweblin
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Oneworld Publications
Publisher Oneworld Publications
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 18mm