Schavelzon Graham Agencia literaria Barcelona

Elena Knows

NOVEL. ALFAGUARA, 2007. 177 PAGES.

SHORTLISTED INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2022

LIBERATURPREIS PRIZE 2010

Shortly after Rita is found dead in a church she used to attend, the investigation is closed. Her mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. However, in her sickly condition she’s the last person who should be heading up an investigation. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation, this novel unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.

Article The New York Times

Review The Guardian

"Short and stylish [...]. It's a tight and terse mystery with a decisive protagonist. But it's also a piercing commentary on mother-daughter relationships, the indignity of bureaucracy, the burdens of caregiving and the impositions of religious dogma on women."

THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Her novels often feature incisive social and historical scrutiny. Her third novel for adults, Elena Knows, is a perfect example: a complex character study of three women affected by their society's oppressive rules, within a murder mystery."

THE GUARDIAN