The Argentine literary sensation that has taken the Spanish-speaking world by storm: a dark, surreal and beautiful novel about violence, exclusion and love
‘A fragment of the future’ Edouard Louis
‘Ferocious and magical’ Torrey Peters, Guardian
‘It will break your heart’ Mariana Enriquez
‘Naked, glorious storytelling’ Claire Oshetsky
‘A literary sensation’ Rolling Stone
Auntie Encarna’s is the queerest boarding house in the world.
For Camila, it is a refuge, and the travesti who gather there are like family. At night they head out to Sarmiento Park to earn money. They stand together in the cold, sharing stories and a hip flask of whiskey, waiting for a car to slow down. Until, one freezing evening, Auntie Encarna hears crying in the bushes and wades in to investigate. When she finds an abandoned baby boy, she will hear no arguments: she is bringing him home to care for him. Life for Camila and the others will never be the same again.
Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award
Winner of the Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Prize
Winner of the Premio de Narrativa en Castellano
Winner of the Grand Prix de l’heroine Madame Figaro
Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Imprint: Virago UK
Publication date: 01/06/2023
The Queens of Sarmiento Park
by Camila Sosa Villada
Review by Maia
A truly beautiful, harrowing, sparkling novel about identity, found family and the pursuit of tenderness. Camila finds a home in Auntie Encarnas house for Travesti’s, and one night in Sarmiento Park where they find work each night, they come across an abandoned baby in the bushes. Auntie Encarna decides she will take the baby home and together, the girls raise the child as their own. With complex friendships and familial bonds, the house is boundless in love and strange connections and their new addition changes each of their lives. I loved this book so much I can’t put it into words; a magical, detailed and beautifully crafted story with lyrical writing that is completely enchanting.
