Fernanda Melchor’s formidable portrait of Mexico and its demons, written with a brutal lyricism that is as affecting as it is enthralling
Hurricane Season opens with the macabre discovery of a decomposing body on the outskirts a village in rural Mexico. The body is that of the local witch, feared by the men but relied upon by the women for love charms and illegal abortions. The book soon transcends its whodunnit constraints: the culprits are named early on in the story. The questions shifts from who to why, as Melchor paints a portrait of lives governed by poverty and violence, machismo and misogyny, superstition and prejudice. A Netflix film adaptation was released on November 1 2023.
About the Author
Fernanda Melchor has been nominated twice for the International Booker Prize – longlisted in 2022 and shortlisted in 2020About the Translator
Sophie Hughes is a literary translator from Spanish and Italian, and is the most nominated translator in the International Booker Prize’s 10-year history
