Book, Wonders, As[LS]

Language: Brazilian Portuguese. How important is family in our lives, and how important is money? What happens when a mother decides not to take care of her daughter, and what happens when a daughter decides not to take care of her mother? Would we be different if we were born in another place, in another time, in another body? In this celebrated novel by Elena Medel there are two women: María, who in the late 1960s leaves her quiet provincial town to work in Madrid; and Alicia, who takes the same path thirty years later, for very different reasons. And there is, of course, the woman who unites them and who is practically not talked about: daughter of one and mother of the other. The Wonders is a novel about money, or rather, about how the lack of money can determine a lifetime of precariousness and kill, one by one, all of someone's dreams. A story about affection, care, responsibilities and expectations. And, also, a journey about Spain's recent past, from the end of the Franco dictatorship to the explosion of feminism, told by two women who cannot go to demonstrations to fight for their rights because they, of course, have to work to guarantee their livelihood . Winner of the Francisco Umbral Book of the Year Award and already a sensation in Spain and in more than a dozen countries, The Wonders brings half a century of the feminist movement to light. His dive into the inner lives of the protagonists is as deep and articulate as his reflections on the world of work for millions of salaried women. Elena Medel's lyricism reveals her roots as a poet, but her narrative — fast and with full command of the form — shows that she is a novelist full of bravery, owner of mesmerizing prose. This is a novel that inaugurates a new and inimitable voice in contemporary fiction.