Mouthful of Birds

'In this slim and superb book, Schweblin takes on the desire to love, to parent, and to care for one's own body - hardly extraordinary themes - and invests them with a fresh poignancy.'

‘The Grimm brothers and Franz Kafka pay a visit to Argentina in Samanta Schweblin's darkly humorous tales of people who have slipped through cracks or fallen down holes into alternate realities.’

‘The author of the magnetic, scalp-prickling Fever Dream returns with stories as Gothic and incantatory as a telltale heart- virtuoso fiction from Argentina's own Edgar Allan Poe.’

'Spritely and uncanny, this is a beautifully imagined and skilfully executed collection of stories.'

‘So strange and beautiful.’

'Impressive... Schweblin is among the most acclaimed Spanish-language writers of her generation.'

‘This is our world, and sharp-focused, but stripped of its usual meanings... Brutal violence is twisted into horrific, intensely experienced art.’

‘These wild, unsettling, absurdist tales cement her status as a penetrating voice in modern fiction.’

‘[Schweblin's] particular genius lies in the fact that there’s something inherently savage and ungovernable about her work... The finest offerings here beg to be illustrated by Paula Rego then animated by David Lynch... Schweblin herself puts it best: “Horror and beauty! What a combination!” 

‘Starting a story by the Argentinian Samanta Schweblin is like tumbling into a dark hole with no idea where you'll end up.’

‘Samanta Schweblin’s strange, haunting and stunningly beautiful collection of short stories… Many of these stories got under my skin and lingered with me long after I’d put the book down.’

‘Delving into the cryptic depths of the human psyche, this is a highly imaginative and thought-provoking collection, deftly translated by Megan McDowell.’