Why did I love this book?
In this taut novella set in the Argentinian countryside, Schweblin leans into South American magical realism to spin an eco-horror tale about motherhood and loss.
Her ingenious use of narrative style – the entire novella is framed as an increasingly frantic interview between the main character and a very strange boy who may or may not be dead – means that the tension is high from the start and stays that way throughout.
But what really makes this book is the palpable dread that seeps out of every page: you know something is going very wrong and there’s nothing you anyone can do to stop it. You’ll read this in a single sitting and then it’ll keep you up all night.
5 authors picked Fever Dream as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2017
'The book I wish I had written' Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women and Animal
A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a remote Argentinian hospital. A boy named David sits beside her.
She's not his mother. He's not her child.
At David's ever more insistent prompting, Amanda recounts a series of events from the apparently recent past, a conversation that opens a chest of horrors. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family.
A chilling tale of maternal anxiety and ecological…