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