“It wasn’t a hatred of the other but a shame of oneself, and there’s nothing more dangerous than people who choke down their wounds.”

Excerpt rom Penguin Website: “An atmospheric rumination on gendered violence, cosmic collapse, and colonialism, from acclaimed author Olivia Tapiero, finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Lambda Literary Awards, and the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal. Available for the first time in English, with an all-new foreword by Anne Boyer.”

I’m a fan of the Strange Light books in general (they publish one of my favorite authors, Eugene Martin), so I tend to trust the books they publish or at least give them a chance.

Happy to report that my trust remains intact.

The author is really good at blending a feeling of starkness with luscious and smart wording that doesn’t cushion the reading experience. That little extra grime and/or edge, depending on the context rounds out the book quite well. Words like ‘fuckable fool’ or sentences like “I desired you to the point of contempt, cherished your flippancy to the point of eating the moldy compost that enables it.” were just real pleasures to read.

The fragments of paragraphs made me feel like like I too was going to collapse in some black hole, with a cloying feeling that made me think I should start crawling to get out of the dark.

The cover design, with art by the translator, is really beautiful and reflects the book tone perfectly. I also appreciate (love, very much love) a black page to divide chapters. I think it’s a great design choice, especially with the quotes that appear behind the chapter title pages with the same black paper/white font combo.

The book published March 17, 2026 and I hope it gets as much traction as it can.