Eva Baltasar demonstrates her pre-eminence as a chronicler of queer voices navigating a hostile world - in prose as brittle and beautiful as an ancient saga. 

Working as a cook on a merchant ship, a woman comes to know and love Samsa, who gives her the nickname ‘Boulder’. When the couple decide to move to Reykjavik together, Samsa announces that she wants to have a child. She is already 40 and can’t bear to let the opportunity pass her by.  

Boulder is less enthused but doesn’t know how to say no - and so finds herself dragged along on a journey that feels as thankless as it is alien. With motherhood changing Samsa into a stranger, Boulder must decide where her priorities lie, and whether her yearning for freedom will trump her yearning for love.

Boulder was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023, announced on April 18, 2023.

Shortlisted
The International Booker Prize 2023
Published by
And Other Stories
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Eva Baltasar

Eva Baltasar

About the Author

Eva Baltasar is an author and poet who has published ten volumes of poetry, to widespread acclaim.

More about Eva Baltasar
 Julia Sanches

Julia Sanches

About the Translator

Julia Sanches has translated works from Portuguese, Spanish, and Catalan.
More about Julia Sanches

Boulder is a sensuous, sexy, intense book. Eva Baltasar condenses the sensations and experiences of a dozen more ordinary novels into just over 100 pages of exhilarating prose. An incisive story of queer love and motherhood that slices open the dilemmas of exchanging independence for intimacy.