Cousins

"The late Argentine author Aurora Venturini wrote this brilliant, provocative novel at age 85, winning the newspaper Página/12’s 2007 New Novel award. Anglophone readers are lucky that Kit Maude’s translation has brought it to us for the first time. The story centers on four women in a poor family in provincial La Plata, Argentina, who face sexual assault, illegal abortions, exploitation and murder – extremely dark stuff. But even as Cousins settles in the muck of depravity, it is shot through with humor and formal risks that make it a propulsive read."