Cathedrals

Claudia Piñeiro

NOVEL. ALFAGUARA, 2020. 336 PAGES

DASHIELL HAMMETT PRIZE 2021

VALENCIA NEGRA PRIZE 2021

"A truth denied hurts until the very last."

Thirty years ago, in an empty plot of a quiet neighborhood, a teenage girl's body was found quartered and burned. The investigation ended with no arrests and her family - middle class, educated, mannered and catholic - disintegrated in silence. Three decades later, the hidden truth comes to light thanks to the father's ongoing love for the victim.
That truth will reveal the raw realities lurking behind appearances, the cruelty of those who prioritize obedience and religious fanaticism, the complicity of the fearful and the indifferent and the loneliness and desperation of those who seek to follow their own path, ignoring the dictates of their elders.
Just as she did with Las viudas de los Jueves (The Thursday Widows), Elena sabe (Elena knows) and Una suerte pequeña (A Stroke of Luck), Claudia Piñeiro masterfully delves into family ties, social prejudice and the ideologies and institutions that affect our inner worlds to deliver a brave, moving novel that strikes at the heart of these private dramas.

La Vanguardia (Spanish)

Article Infobae (Spanish)

Interview Télam (Spanish)

Página12 (Spanish)

El País (Dashiell Hammett Prize 2021)

«A harrowing book that casts a revelatory light on the uncomfortable truth about clandestine abortions in Argentina.»

Ismael Marinero, EL MUNDO


«As well-written as it is intriguing, with Rashomon-style literary play with the structure and vivid, unforgettable characters such as the forgetful Marcela Funes (I told you about the games). A journey of love, heartbreak and kill or be killed fanaticism. This isn't just a gripping
novel, it was and is necessary. A true crime novel for the pandemic age.»
Ángel de la Calle (Director of the Semana Negra de Gijón),
EL PAÍS (‘The best crime novels of 2020')


«The plot is kept taut by it silences... the ever skilful Piñeiro appears to have invented a unique genre, the family crime novel, where everything stays in the home.»

LA NACIÓN


«Family ties, social prejudice, institutions and defiance of authority are just some of the themes Claudia Piñeiro addresses so masterfully.»

PÁGINA 12


«Cathedrals challenges us as a society. It obliges us to stop and think. The text demands that we discard our indifference.»

INFOBAE

 

PUBLISHED BY: Spanish ALFAGUARA | Brasil PRIMAVERA | China ARCHIPEL | English worldwide CHARCO PRESS | Germany UNIONSVERLAG | Greece CARNÍVORA | Korea PRUNSOOP PUBLISHING | Poland SONIA DRAGA | Serbia BLUM | TV/Film rights sold

Other titles from Claudia Piñeiro:

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