{"product_id":"the-family","title":"The Family","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #b45f06;\"\u003eJanuary 12, 2027\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #b45f06;\"\u003enovel | pb | 240 pgs.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #b45f06;\"\u003e5.5\" x 8.5\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan color=\"#b45f06\" style=\"color: #b45f06;\"\u003e978-1-960385-60-4\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.publishersweekly.com\/pw\/by-topic\/industry-news\/tip-sheet\/article\/79827-pw-picks-books-of-the-week-april-22-2019.html\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe most devastating, intimate work to date from one of Spain’s most prominent authors\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"There are no secrets in this family!\" proclaims Damián, the father, triumphantly. A secular idealist obsessed with morality and order, he is blind to the cracks in his home’s foundations, the oppression that pervades it, and the elaborate fictions his wife and four children devise to survive it. While he quotes Gandhi and expounds on the virtues of education, charity and thrift, the children retreat into humiliated compliance or seek freedom in the most dangerous of places.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough a mosaic of interlinked tales, spanning decades, acclaimed Spanish author Sara Mesa turns her unflinching gaze to the family as institution: the ideologies that shape it, the silences that undermine it, and the authority you can never quite escape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #444444;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTranslated from the Spanish by \u003cspan\u003eKatie Whittemore\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #b45f06;\"\u003e•\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #444444;\"\u003eAbout the Author:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eSara Mesa\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the author of eight novels and three story collections, including \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eScar\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (winner of the Ojo Critico Prize), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eFour by Four\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (a finalist for the Herralde Prize), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eAn Invisible Fire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (winner of the Premio Málaga de Novela), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eUn Amor: A Novel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmong the Hedges\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eBad Handwriting\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. Her works have been translated into more than ten different languages, and she has been widely praised for her concise, sharp writing style.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Translator:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eKatie Whittemore\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e translates from Spanish. Her translations \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003einclude novels by Sara Mesa, Javier Serena, Aroa Moreno Durán, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLara Moreno, Nuria Labari, Katixa Agirre, Jon Bilbao, Juan Gómez \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBárcena, Almudena Sánchez, Aliocha Coll, and Pilar Adón. She received \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ean NEA Translation Fellowship in 2022 for Lara Moreno’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003eIn Case We Lose Power\u003c\/i\u003e, and has been a finalist for the Spain USA \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFoundation Translation Prize and the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTranslation Prize, and shortlisted for the National Translation Award.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #b76003;\"\u003e•\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for Sara Mesa:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Sara Mesa’s writing is mysterious and fascinating: her characters brush against the limits in environments of fierce false calm. Un Amor is one of her best novels – tense and beautiful like a crouching bird.\"—\u003cstrong\u003eMariana Enríquez, author of \u003ccite\u003eThe Dangers of Smoking in Bed\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\"When I read Sara Mesa, I’m there in the Wild West, sifting through the sand. There is a restless enjoyment, an inhospitable beauty, in my sieve. And then something miraculous when gold appears before my eyes.”\u003cstrong\u003e—Eva Baltasar, author of \u003ci\u003eBoulder\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Sara Mesa sees the world through the lens of power, exploring how questions of strength and weakness shape human behavior.”—\u003cb\u003eAnnie McDermott, \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“With short, propulsive chapters, Sara Mesa creates an unforgettable gothic landscape, centered on the mysterious and menacing Wybrany College, that twists in ways that unsettle and thrill. In \u003ci\u003eFour by Four\u003c\/i\u003e, Mesa’s sentences are clear as glass, but when you look through you will be terrified by what you see.”\u003cstrong\u003e—Laura van den Berg, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Third Hotel \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The atmospheric unraveling of the mystery will keep you turning the page; the ending will leave you stunned—Mesa’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eFour by Four\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a tautly written literary thriller that juxtaposes the innocence of children with the fetish of control; a social parable that warns against the silence of oppression and isolation through its disquieting, sparse prose.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Kelsey Westenberg, Seminary Co-op\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"e2ma-style\"\u003e“Very few authors evoke a visceral reaction with prose in the way that Sara Mesa does. A master of tension building, Mesa constructs lurid phantasmagoric worlds that are equal parts mysterious and unnerving. \u003cem\u003eFour by Four\u003c\/em\u003e sounds an alarm on the dangers of power, privilege, and the self-delusions told in order to hide complicity. A work of high gothic art, \u003cem\u003eFour by Four\u003c\/em\u003e solidifies Mesa as one of the strongest female voices in contemporary Spanish literature.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Cristina Rodriguez\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Stylistically, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eFour by Four\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e’s narrative structure is both dazzling and dizzying, as its perfect pacing only enhances the metastasizing dread and dis-ease. . . . Mesa exposes the thin veneer of venerability to be hiding something menacing and unforgivable—and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eFour by Four\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e lays it bare for all the world to see.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Jeremy Garber, Powell’s Books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sara Mesa","offers":[{"title":"pb","offer_id":47567911616748,"sku":null,"price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"ebook","offer_id":47567911649516,"sku":null,"price":9.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0282\/5792\/files\/family.jpg?v=1777056149","url":"https:\/\/www.openletterbooks.org\/products\/the-family","provider":"Open Letter","version":"1.0","type":"link"}