Gisela Leal

Solitude and power, the two themes underlying the finest Latin American literary tradition, revisited by an extraordinary new voice.

Antonia, “the loneliest being in all the galaxies of the vast universe”, has not had what might be described as an ordinary childhood. She is an introverted girl suffering from social anxiety and eating disorders, and since her father abandoned them the relationship with her mother has been difficult – not to say tyrannical and unhealthy. But their lives seem to take a turn for the better when the mother marries a successful businessman –a self-made man who personifies the paradigm of money and power. They move to live in Soledad, a paradisiacal country estate, where every luxury is on hand and the mother and daughter’s only obligation is to be happy.

But in all the history of humanity when has a man or a woman reaped the fruits of Eden without being corrupted? Antonia will inevitably witness how the anxieties of modern life come to the surface in Soledad and trigger an accelerating spiral of degeneration that turns that paradise into an unliveable hellhole.

The exuberant, unconventional prose of La soledad en tres actos offers further proof of Gisela Leal’s superb talent, confirming her as one of the most unusual authors on the new Latin American narrative scene.

‘With prose that meanders and is pure rhythm, and with a musical style, […] Gisela Leal invents a way to tell a story, and in doing so, invents a form and a way, moreover, to create literature.’ Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos

Un suicidio fallido lleva a tres personajes a revalorar todo aquello que han sido sus vidas y lo que podría depararles un hipotético futuro en un mundo inhóspito.

María Helena del Pozo de Rivera sabe muy bien lo que quiere y siempre lo ha conseguido. Suyos son el reino, el poder, la gloria: podría nadar en dinero, pues está casada con un poderoso empresario; es hermosa y refinada, ejemplo de buen gusto y alma de las fiestas. Además, para su absoluta dicha, tiene un primogénito en quien cifra grandes esperanzas: rebosante de cualidades, reales e imaginarias, Renato está destinado no sólo a dirigir el emporio empresarial creado por su padre, sino, con el tiempo, a convertirla en orgullosa abuela.

Nada es perfecto: María Helena tiene otro hijo, un potencial suicida... ¿Por qué Emiliano Rivera del Pozo quiere suicidarse? Porque perdió todo interés en el hipotético futuro. Porque este es un mundo inhóspito, propicio a la soledad. Porque le son indiferentes la opulencia, el poder, el brillo social. Porque, piensa, para sus padres, y en especial para su madre, nunca pudo ni podrá ser alguien más que el hijo invisible sobre cuyas cualidades sería un error tener expectativas. La vida, que siempre tiene otros planes, cambiará los destinos de todos ellos en una sola, áspera noche de esta novela desbordante y adictiva.

"Gisela Leal sabe de pop como Xavier Velasco, derrama veneno como Junot Díaz y mira a los ricos como Bret Easton Ellis." Santiago Roncagliolo

"A young lover of beauty above all things engages in an uninterrupted conversation that lasts a lifetime, trying to find out, understand, and explain, through literature and to its ultimate consequences, the tearing apart of a love understood, lived, and, what is worse, lost.

A river novel, a delirious and profuse portrait of great hopes, unfulfilled promises, a desire to conquer the world, and meager results, all revolving around love and its possible impossibility.

"No one has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold." - Zelda Fitzgerald, Save Me The Waltz"

A story that delves into the depths of the human soul.

What is life all about? Camilo and Roberto, each on their own, conclude that it consists of encountering people who will make them curse it, end it in the most psychopathic ways, and waste their time trying to survive with the few tools they have left: white powder, ten prostitutes, and a bartender, their companions for Monday night chats. For them, under the influence of certain substances, life is easier, more bearable, more forgettable, faster, and with more opportunities to die sooner and finally put an end to the drama.

"Written with great mastery. [...] one of the most significant novels written in the last 25 years, at least." Antonio Navalón, El Universal

“Gisela Leal aims to portray a life of extravagance where everything can fall to pieces; she wants her characters to find a critical approach to life, rejecting fashion and mass consumption.” GQ Mexico

"An immersive plot about two young people who must become adults and miserable to survive in a complex reality, plus Gisela Leal's exemplary, insistent, and incisive prose, indicated that behind this literary debut was a young writer, yes, but with her own universe that wouldn't take long to find its place." Diego Gándara, Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos