Eartheater: A Novel

by Dolores Reyes, Julia Sanches (Translator)

Overview

NAMED A "FALL 2020 MUST-READ" AND ONE OF THE "BEST BOOKS OF FALL 2020" BY TIME, VULTURE, THE BOSTON GLOBE, COSMOPOLITAN, WIRED, TOR AND MORE

Electrifying and provocative, visceral and profound, a powerful literary debut novel about a young woman whose compulsion to eat earth gives her visions of murdered and missing people—an imaginative synthesis of mystery and magical realism that explores the dark tragedies of ordinary lives.

Set in an unnamed slum in contemporary Argentina, Eartheater is the story of a young woman who finds herself drawn to eating the earth—a compulsion that gives her visions of broken and lost lives. With her first taste of dirt, she learns the horrifying truth of her mother’s death. Disturbed by what she witnesses, the woman keeps her visions to herself. But when Eartheater begins an unlikely relationship with a withdrawn police officer, word of her ability begins to spread, and soon desperate members of her community beg for her help, anxious to uncover the truth about their own loved ones.

Surreal and haunting, spare yet complex, Eartheater is a dark, emotionally resonant tale told from a feminist perspective that brilliantly explores the stories of those left behind—the women enduring the pain of uncertainty, whose lives have been shaped by violence and loss.

Translated from the Spanish by Julia Sanches

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062987754
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/14/2021
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	281,042
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Dolores Reyes was born in Buenos Aires in 1978. She is a teacher, feminist, activist, and the mother of seven children. She studied classical literature at the University of Buenos Aires. Eartheater is her first novel.

Julia Sanches is a literary translator working from Portuguese, Spanish, and Catalan. Recent translations include Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2024, Boulder by Eva Baltasar, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2023, and Migratory Birds by Mariana Oliver, for which she won the 2022 PEN translation prize. Born in Brazil, she currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Editorial Reviews

One of the most outstanding Latin American short novels of the year.” — New York Times

“A powerful story whose narrator wields brutally honest observations on the intersections of class, poverty, and gender. Reyes’ debut is a strong addition to the growing body of Latin American crime fiction in the U.S. market. A stirring genre blend of fantasy and crime fiction that combines graceful prose and magic realism.”  — Booklist (starred review)

“Reyes succeeds in making the feisty Eartheater and her visions both persuasive and affecting.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“In a voice that is terse, blunt, and biting, the narrator reckons with the impact of her visions on her health and relationships, as she witnesses more and more the ways fear and violence shape the experiences of the women in her community. Compelling and visceral, Reyes’ debut combines mystery and coming-of-age to evoke the stories of the victims of femicide.”  — Kirkus Reviews

“A raw and vital literary debut, Eartheater takes an unwavering and visceral look at systems of power through the perspective of a young woman caught in the crosshairs.” — Shelf Awareness

"In Reyes' hands, this coming-of-age novel flowers into a meditation on death, and the earth all children will eat in the end." — New York Observer

“Dolores Reyes’s writing is visceral and urgent. It’s also connected to a powerful tradition of fantasy and crime, and it reflects on violence against women with enormous lucidity.” — Mariana Enriquez, author of Things We Lost in the Fire

"With its own shining light and singular voice, Eartheater follows in the footsteps of such essential authors as Juan Rulfo and Sara Gallardo.” — Selva Almada, author of The Wind That Lays Waste

“Dolores Reyes’s harsh and sensitive lyricism explodes in your hands.” — Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, author of The Adventures of China Iron

From the Publisher

One of the most outstanding Latin American short novels of the year.

New York Times

"In Reyes' hands, this coming-of-age novel flowers into a meditation on death, and the earth all children will eat in the end."

New York Observer

"With its own shining light and singular voice, Eartheater follows in the footsteps of such essential authors as Juan Rulfo and Sara Gallardo.

Selva Almada

Dolores Reyes’s harsh and sensitive lyricism explodes in your hands.

Gabriela Cabezón Cámara

Dolores Reyes’s writing is visceral and urgent. It’s also connected to a powerful tradition of fantasy and crime, and it reflects on violence against women with enormous lucidity.

Mariana Enriquez

A powerful story whose narrator wields brutally honest observations on the intersections of class, poverty, and gender. Reyes’ debut is a strong addition to the growing body of Latin American crime fiction in the U.S. market. A stirring genre blend of fantasy and crime fiction that combines graceful prose and magic realism.” 

Booklist (starred review)

A raw and vital literary debut, Eartheater takes an unwavering and visceral look at systems of power through the perspective of a young woman caught in the crosshairs.

Shelf Awareness

★ 10/01/2020

DEBUT When a girl from an Argentine slum eats the dirt in which her dead mother has been buried, she starts having visions of people missing or dead. Paramount among them is her teacher, Señorita Ana, gang-raped and murdered, who offers guidance while badgering her to track down her killers. The Eartheater, as the protagonist becomes known, is both shunned for her sometimes danger-inducing behavior—her sort-of boyfriend and the aunt who initially took responsibility for her and her brother quickly leave—and sought out by people desperate to locate loved ones, giving her dirt associated with them to eat. The missing are mostly women, as first-time Argentine novelist Reyes highlights the numerous awful incidents of femicide in Latin America. Among them is Maria, whose case gets the Eartheater involved with Ezequiel, a steady policeman she initially distrusts, and the book ends in a moment of heady vengeance. VERDICT The premise might initially be hard to swallow, but Reyes succeeds in making the feisty Eartheater and her visions both persuasive and affecting. Kudos to Sanches for effectively rendering Argentine slang.

Library Journal

Narrator Frankie Corzo brings her velvety voice to this Argentinian story featuring a character who has visions of violence that has taken place against women. As a child, Eartheater discovers that her desire to consume earth is matched by an ability to magically see into the lives of others. After alarming her school by revealing her teacher’s grisly death, she's expelled, and she passes the time by numbing herself with video games. Corzo’s laconic inflection adds to the sense of Eartheater's detachment. But people who need her help leave earth in bottles on her doorstep, along with impassioned pleas to find their missing loved ones. When a police officer begs for her assistance, he breaks through Eartheater's emotional defenses, kindling a hint of passion in her and in Corzo's tone. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2021 - AudioFile

Narrator Frankie Corzo brings her velvety voice to this Argentinian story featuring a character who has visions of violence that has taken place against women. As a child, Eartheater discovers that her desire to consume earth is matched by an ability to magically see into the lives of others. After alarming her school by revealing her teacher’s grisly death, she's expelled, and she passes the time by numbing herself with video games. Corzo’s laconic inflection adds to the sense of Eartheater's detachment. But people who need her help leave earth in bottles on her doorstep, along with impassioned pleas to find their missing loved ones. When a police officer begs for her assistance, he breaks through Eartheater's emotional defenses, kindling a hint of passion in her and in Corzo's tone. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2021 - AudioFile

2020-09-02
In a violent Argentinian slum, a schoolgirl reckons with the clairvoyant experiences she has while eating earth: vivid visions of missing women and children.

When her mother dies, the unnamed narrator develops an unusual compulsion to eat dirt and discovers the truth of her mother's killing, in all its betrayal and brutality. The earth, she finds, bestows her with visions of other people—murdered or missing, dead or alive—an ability that earns her the admonishment of her aunt, who grows crueler as word of the girl's abilities spreads. When a young teacher disappears, the narrator eats earth from the schoolyard for answers, which are revealed in a drawing she makes depicting the teacher’s naked body, tied to posts outside a warehouse. The body is discovered in the precise location of the drawing, and, fed up with the humiliation her niece has brought upon their family, the aunt leaves the girl and her older brother, Walter, to raise themselves. As she tries to live with some semblance of normality—dropping out of school, playing video games and drinking beer with Walter and his friends, experiencing first love—the young woman struggles with her earth-eating habit, craving it yet repelled by what it shows her. Out of need, though, she accepts money from people whose loved ones have gone missing, including a stoic and aloof police officer, in whom she unexpectedly finds an ally and romantic companion. In a voice that is terse, blunt, and biting, the narrator reckons with the impact of her visions on her health and relationships, as she witnesses more and more the ways fear and violence shape the experiences of the women in her community.

Compelling and visceral, Reyes’ debut combines mystery and coming-of-age to evoke the stories of the victims of femicide.

Kirkus Reviews