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Mothers Don't

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( 2,670 ratings, 426 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Mothers Don't by Katixa Agirre is a gripping crime and thriller novel that dives into the psychological complexities of motherhood. The story follows a protagonist who grapples with the aftermath of a shocking crime committed by a new mother. As layers of guilt and secretiveness unfold, the narrative explores themes of maternity, identity, and moral ambiguity, keeping readers enthralled to the last page.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$3299
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this gripping story if you're intrigued by psychological puzzles and intense drama in a crime thriller. The novel delves into the complexities of motherhood and morality, featuring a chilling narrative that unravels secrets and exposes hidden truths. Its suspenseful and thought-provoking plot might captivate anyone interested in exploring the darker sides of human nature.

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A writer about to give birth investigates the story behind a mother she knows who has just killed her own twins.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A writer about to give birth investigates the story behind a mother she knows who has just killed her own twins.

A mother kills her twins. Another woman, the narrator of this story, is about to give birth. She is a writer, and she realises that she knows the woman who committed the infanticide. An obsession is born. She takes an extended leave, not for child-rearing, but to write. To research and write about the hidden truth behind the crime.

Mothers don't write. Mothers give life. How could a woman be capable of neglecting her children? How could she kill them? Is motherhood a prison? Complete with elements of a traditional thriller, this is a groundbreaking novel in which the chronicle and the essay converge. Katixa Agirre reflects on the relationship between motherhood and creativity, in dialogue with writers such as Sylvia Plath and Doris Lessing.

Mothers Don't plumbs the depths of childhood and the lack of protection children face before the law. The result is a disturbing, original novel in which the author does not offer answers, but plants contradictions and discoveries.

Series: Spanish Literature Series

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    A Spanish-gothic version of a Patricia Highsmith novel. Jon and Katharina spend the winter in Jon's childhood home on the Cantabrian coast, lonely and bored, ambivalent about their precarious freelance jobs and disconnected in their relationship. Yet, the couple's routine will soon be disturbed when one rainy night, they witness strange lights in the sky over the village. The next...
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  • Procession of Shadows
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  • Mothers Don't
    A writer about to give birth investigates the story behind a mother she knows who has just killed her own twins. A mother kills her twins. Another woman, the narrator of this story, is about to give birth. She is a writer, and she realises that she knows the woman who committed the infanticide. An obsession is born. She takes...
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    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Antagony
    This potent drama, a collected volume of Goytisolo's famed tetralogy following a Catalan family, is widely regarded as one of the most profound inquiries ever undertaken on literary creation. Antagony surveys the social history of Barcelona and Catalonia, primarily since the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. The work, originally published as a tetralogy and now collected into...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Katixa Agirre's Mothers Don't explores the complex and often dark facets of motherhood with nuance and intelligence. It challenges the reader to understand the seemingly impossible within a narrative that feels like a tightly contained conflict, akin to an Iliad. The story delves into private battles that unfold in a limited space, compelling us to question the very possibility of certain events.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781948830560

Publisher: Open Letter

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 July 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: Open Letter

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Translated by Katie Whittemore
  • Translated by Kristin Addis

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 202

About the Author

Katixa Agirre (Vitoria, 1981) has a PhD in Audiovisual Communication and lectures at Universidad del Pas Vasco. She previously published the short story collections Sua falta zaigu and Habitat, and is the author of numerous children's books: Paularen seigarren atzamarra,Ez naiz sirena bat, eta zer?, and Patzikuren problemak. She was also a columnist for Diario de Noticias de lava, Deia, Aizu! and Argia.

Katie Whittemore is graduate of the University of NH (BA), Cambridge University (M.Phil), and Middlebury College (MA), and was a 2018 Bread Loaf Translators Conference participant. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Two Lines, The Arkansas International, The Common Online, Gulf Coast Magazine Online, The Los Angeles Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and InTranslation. Current projects include novels by Spanish authors Sara Mesa, Javier Serena, Aliocha Coll, Aroa Moreno Durn, Nuria Labari, Katixa Agirre, and Juan Gmez Brcena.

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