The Bitch

*Finalist for the US National Book Award for Translated Literature 2020*

In Colombia's brutal jungle, childless Damaris develops an intense and ultimately doomed relationship with an orphaned puppy.

Colombia's Pacific coast, where everyday life entails warding off the brutal forces of nature. In this constant struggle, nothing is taken for granted. 

Damaris lives with her fisherman husband in a shack on a bluff overlooking the sea. Childless and at that age 'when women dry up,' as her uncle puts it, she is eager to adopt an orphaned puppy. But this act may bring more than just affection into her home. 

The Bitch is written in a prose as terse as the villagers, with storms both meteorological and emotional lurking around each corner. Beauty and dread live side by side in this poignant exploration of the many meanings of motherhood and love.

'A searing psychological portrait of a troubled woman contending with her instinct to nurture is at the heart of Colombian writer Quintana's slim, potent English-language debut…The brutal scenes unfold quickly, with lean, stinging prose. Quintana's vivid novel about love, betrayal, and abandonment hits hard.' — Publishers Weekly, starred review

'Quintana patiently explores the darkening mood…an intense story.' — Kirkus Reviews

'The magic of this sparse novel is its ability to talk about many things, all of them important, while seemingly talking about something else entirely. What are those things? Violence, loneliness, resilience, cruelty. Quintana works wonders with her disillusioned, no-nonsense, powerful prose.' — Juan Gabriel Vásquez