The house breathes.

The house contains bodies and secrets.

'A house of women and shadows built from poetry and revenge' Mariana Enriquez

The house is visited by ghosts, by angels that line the roof like insects, and by saints that burn the bedsheets with their haloes.

It was built by a small-time hustler as a means of controlling his wife, and even after so many years, their daughter and her granddaughter can't leave.

They may be witches or they may just be angry, but when the mysterious disappearance of a young boy draws unwanted attention, the two isolated women, already subjects of public scorn, combine forces with the spirits that haunt them in pursuit of something that resembles justice.

Layla Martinez's eerie debut novel Woodworm is class-conscious horror that drags generations of monsters into the sun.

Translated by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott

About the Author
Layla Martinez (Author)
Layla Martinez is a writer and translator from Madrid. She writes about music for El Salto, and about television for La Ultima Hora. Since 2014 she has co-directed the independent publisher Antipersona. Woodworm is her first novel.

Sophie Hughes (Translator)
Sophie Hughes is the translator of over twenty novels by authors such as Fernanda Melchor, Alia Trabucco Zeran and Enrique Vila-Matas. She has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and the Dublin Literary Award, and longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. In 2021, she was awarded the Queen Sofia Translation Prize.

Annie McDermott (Translator)
Annie McDermott's translations from Spanish and Portuguese include works by Mario Levrero, Selva Almada, Ariana Harwicz and Lidia Jorge. In 2022, she was awarded the Premio Valle-Inclan for her translation of Wars of the Interior by Joseph Zarate.



Reviews
A house of women and shadows, built from poetry and revenge. Layla Martinez' tense, chilling novel tells a story of specters, class war, violence and loneliness, as naturally as if the witches had dictated this lucid, terrible nightmare to Martinez themselves. -- Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of Night
It pounces on us from the first line and doesn't let go until the last, if it lets go. The Gothic revival continues to expand and produce great works. -- Edmundo Paz Soldan, author of Norte
Woodworm is a true literary event. -- Belen Gopegui, author of Stay This Day and Night with Me
This book is the revenge of an intergenerational wound, the embrace of barbarity, the loss of morals when trying to protect your loved ones. This book is the miserable and the wretched saying 'enough is enough.' -- Alana S. Portero, author of Bad Habit



Book Information
ISBN 9781787303973
Author Layla Martinez
Format Hardback
Page Count 144
Imprint Harvill Secker
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 400g
Dimensions(mm) 204mm * 132mm * 25mm