This is a beautifully curated collection, with each story being distinct and specific, but tied together by a sense of displacement, of the protagonist being out of step with their surroundings, their loved ones, their community, even their time. They are short yet satisfying: minutely detailed glimpses of an experience, each one of which I could have stayed in far longer.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Typically impressive collection of seven short stories by Guadalupe Nettel from Fitzcarraldo. A short volume, the stories pivot around issues of family dysfunction and disruption against a sometimes unsettling backdrop of the natural world (Playing with Fire, A Forest Under the Earth) or uncanny playfulness (The Pink Door, The Torpor). All of the stories create a world and end satisfyingly, while leaving you wanting more, which is what a good short story should do. There is also a longing here, for home and childhood, that the title story captures most clearly. An excellent collection.

Precise, wonderfully put together. Enough of a substance for each story, enough left for the reader to walk off and wonder and draw their own conclusions. One or two stories have really stayed with me, and I'll be returning to this collection again in the future

Such a great anthology of stories to get lost in! I love that if you’re not up for reading a full story you can dip in and out of this great compilation of stories about the human experience