Elena Knows
Reader Score
78%
78% of readers
recommend this book
SHORTLISTED for the International Booker Prize 2022
After Rita is found dead in a church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation, Elena Knows unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.
Book Details
- Publisher: Charco Press
- Publish Date: Jul 13rd, 2021
- Pages: 173
- Language: English
- Dimensions: 7.70in - 4.90in - 0.60in - 0.50lb
- EAN: 9781999368432
- Categories: • Crime• Political• Literary
About the Author
Frances Riddle has translated numerous Spanish-language authors including Isabel Allende, Claudia Piñeiro, Leila Guerriero, and Sara Gallardo. Her translation of Theatre of War by Andrea Jeftanovic was granted an English PEN Award in 2020. Her work has appeared in journals such as Granta, Electric Literature, and The White Review, among others. She holds a BA in Spanish Language Literature from Louisiana State University and an MA in Translation Studies from the University of Buenos Aires. In 2022, Frances' translation of Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Originally from Houston, Texas she lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1960, Claudia Piñeiro is a best-selling author, known internationally for her crime novels. She has won numerous national and international prizes, including the Pepe Carvalho Prize, the LiBeraturpreis for Elena Knows and the prestigious Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize for Las grietas de Jara (A Crack in the Wall). Many of her novels have been adapted for the big screen, including Elena Knows (out on Netflix in Nov 2023). Piñeiro is the third most translated Argentinean author, after Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar. She's also a playwright and scriptwriter (including Netflix popular series El Reino). Her novel Elena Knows was shortlisted was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize.
Praise for this book
International Booker Prize (Shortlist)
Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award - Fiction (Shortlist)
LiBeraturpreis (Winner)
"Short and stylish...a piercing commentary on mother-daughter relationships, the indignity of bureaucracy, the burdens of caregiving and the impositions of religious dogma on women." --New York Times
"A lyrical portrait of a woman unable to grieve...incisive commentary on Catholic society's control of women's bodies." --Publishers Weekly
"A murder mystery with a twist." --The Globe and Mail
"Its true brilliance, though, is in how it flips Elena's insular daily reality into a much broader commentary on how the hypocrisy of Catholic society manifests in the lives and judgments of ordinary people. A highly accomplished and original novel, translated with great sensitivity to tone and atmosphere by Frances Riddle." --Irish Times
"A gloriously taut and haunting tale...astonishingly assured."" --Denise Mina, author of GODS AND BEASTS and THE LONG DROP
"A fascinating, twisty tale." --The Listener
"Contending with sorrow and illness, as well as the burdens of caregiving, bodily horrors, and forced presumptions in the lives of women, Elena Knows is a bold, visceral work of fiction." --Jeremy Garber, Powell's Bookshop
"[Piñeiro's] words work a kind of magic only very masterful literature does." --Lucy Writers
"In Elena, Piñeiro has created an uncommon Virgil who reminds readers of the damaging and even deadly effects of imposing one's convictions on others." --Necessary Fiction
"A subtle and skilful exploration of how far women have the right to control their own bodies." --The Conversation
"Riveting, revelatory and brilliantly imaginative." --Lonesome Reader
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Praise for Claudia Piñeiro
"Not for nothing is Claudia Piñeiro Argentina's most popular crime writer. Betty Boo is original, witty and hugely entertaining; it mixes murder with love, political power and journalism. Delightful characters include a morose veteran hack and a young trainee known only as Crime Boy. Iscar falls in love and the homicide count has moved up the ladder of Argentine politicians." --The Times
"At the start of this thought-provoking mystery from Piñeiro (A Crack in the Wall), maid Gladys Verela arrives at the Maravillosa Country Club, where industrialist Pedro Chazaretta has a house on the grounds. In the living room, Gladys spots Chazaretta sitting in a chair, apparently asleep, but in fact his throat has been slit. In Piñeiro's artful hands, each of her investigators learns as much about himself or herself as about the murder on the way to the surprising, perfectly executed ending." --Publisher's Weekly
"Those willing to take the time to enjoy the style and the unusual denouement will find themselves wondering why more crime authors don't take the kinds of risks Piñeiro does." --Booklist
"Piñeiro is AWESOME. Her books are dark, have buckets of atmosphere, and they all feel entirely different even though she revisits some of the same issues again and again. She deals with the culture and social structure within gated communities; shows how walling ourselves in seems safer, but actually promotes fear and claustrophobia; she deals with gender roles and prejudice and economic class and long-held secrets that fester." --Book Riot
"A striking meditation on loss and the search for home." --Publishers Weekly
"A moving story about the courage to face the past and earn a chance at redemption." --Kirkus
"An investigation into the limits of narrative, Claudia Piñeiro's latest cements the writer as a giant of Argentine literature. (5 stars)" --The Skinny
"A Little Luck is a thrilling read, a page turner, a mystery, a psychological deep dive into character."" --Julia Alvarez, author of HOW THE GARCÍA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS and IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIESIN THE NAME OF SALOMÉ
"Piñeiro excels at creating poignant, emotive fiction which aims for both heart and head." --Jeremy Garber, Powell's Bookshop
"I highly recommend A Little Luck by Claudia Piñeiro." --Harvard Bookstore
"Piñeiro is quickly establishing herself to English readers as a novelist capable of utter devastation, but she consistently offers a little hope in the dark. " --The Big Issue
"A must-read." --Morning Star
"Piñeiro once again demonstrates her expertise in suspense and intrigue." --Sounds & Colours
"The writing and pacing are superb...there's not a dull moment to be had." --Tony's Reading List
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"Like fabric, this book is woven from different textualities. Intermittently, a chorus appears who comment, in the style of Ancient Greek theatre, on what is happening. (...) Combined with these voices are texts from well-known figures: Rebecca Solnit, Rita Segato, Judith Butler, Vivian Gornick, Marguerite Duras..." --Infobae
"The novel portrays the new life of the main character and the culture shock she experiences on encountering a world that is much more feminist than the one she remembers, when she only knew a single way to be a woman." --elDiarioAR
"The intellectual, artistic and creative challenges expressed in Time of the Flies confront us with the destruction of the archetypes of specific periods, where the resistances and oppositions are intense and come from all sides." --Diario Cine y Literatura CL
"A detective novel that corroborates this writer's experience with the genre and her capacity to travel to the darkest corners of the human soul, always from multiple perspectives." --Hermeneuta Revista Cultural
"Once inside (as you will find out for yourself) there is no let-up." --El Español
"As they try to rebuild their lives on release from prison, Inés and Manca experience ups and downs that show them that love is not always what we call love and that we do not always feel what we really think we feel. In the realm of the emotions, there are no absolute truths either." --Tiempo Argentino
"It is a stimulating exercise to imagine the challenges characters who embody a particular period would face in the present day. This is what Piñeiro attempts here, and hits the nail on the head with Inés, who resonates with irreverent questions about the possibility of being contemporary and wholly genuine at the same time." --La Nación
"Piñeiro interweaves the stories of Inés and Manca in a kind of suburban Thelma and Louise, with a chorus of women who debate subjects such as the achievements of feminism, inclusive language and abortion, among other matters" --Pagina/12
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