Things We Lost in the Fire: Stories

The “propulsive and mesmerizing” (The New York Times Book Review) story collection by the International Booker-shortlisted author of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed

The short stories of Mariana Enriquez are:
“The most exciting discovery I’ve made in fiction for some time.”—Kazuo Ishiguro
“Phenomenal.”—Vanity Fair
“Violent and cool, told in voices so lucid they feel spoken.”—The Boston Globe

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Boston Globe, Paste, Words Without Borders, Grub Street, Remezcla, Entropy

Electric, disturbing, and exhilarating, the stories of Things We Lost in the Fire explore multiple dimensions of life and death in contemporary Argentina. Each haunting tale simmers with the nation's troubled history, but among the abandoned houses, black magic, superstitions, lost loves, and regrets, there is also friendship, compassion, and humor.

In these stories, reminiscent of Shirley Jackson and Julio Cortázar, three young friends distract themselves with drugs and pain in the midst a government-enforced blackout; a girl with nothing to lose steps into an abandoned house and never comes back out; to protest a viral form of domestic violence, a group of women set themselves on fire.

Translated by the National Book Award-winning Megan McDowell, these “slim but phenomenal” (Vanity Fair) stories explore what happens when our darkest desires are left to roam unchecked and show why Mariana Enriquez has become one of the most celebrated new voices in global literature.