The Strangers
Jon Bilbao author Katie Whittemore translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Dalkey Archive Press
Published:6th Apr '23
Should be back in stock very soon
- Serial rights targeting Granta, Paris Review, Astra Magazine, BOMB, n+1, Electric Literature, Literary Hub
- National review and feature outreach to print publications (NYTBR, New York Times, New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, Boston Globe) and online (NPR, Literary Hub, Buzzfeed, The Millions)
- Targeted outreach to publications spotlighting translated literature: World Literature Today, Asymptote, Words Without Borders
- Targeted bookseller mailing
- Promotion at/events pitched to PEN World Voices Festival
- Virtual events with author and translator
- Promotion on publisher’s website and social media; promotion via e-newsletters to booksellers, reviewers
A Spanish-gothic version of a Patricia Highsmith novel
Jon and Katharina spend the winter in Jon’s childhood home on the Cantabrian coast, lonely and bored, ambivalent about their precarious freelance jobs and disconnected in their relationship. Yet the couple’s routine will soon be disturbed when one rainy night, they witness strange lights in the sky over the village. The next morning, ufologists begin to arrive in the village, anxious to make extraterrestrial contact. The morning brings other unexpected guests: Jon's distant cousin, Markel, and his companion, the silent, alluring Virginia. The visit becomes increasingly uncomfortable as—like the ufologists camped out in view of the house—the strangers stay on and show little sign of planning to leave. Days stretch into weeks, even as the cousins can't remember ever having met, Virginia’s behavior becomes subtly threatening, and Jon begins doubt that Markel is who he says he . . . A deliciously tense and darkly humorous novella that explores the border that separates love from routine and offers a twist on theme of “the other” and how to live with the unknown, The Strangers introduces English readers to singular talent.
“To speak of Jon Bilbao is to speak of one of the most important figures in Spanish narrative of the twenty-first century and, in particular, of the short distances of the story.”—Marcos Gendre, Mondo Sonoro
“Mixing the everyday with the extraordinary doesn't always work, but Jon Bilbao manages to do it without having to write 400 pages . . .”—Pilar Martin, Hola News
“. . . Bilbao dominates like few others in Spanish letters.”—Paula Corroto, El Confidencial
ISBN: 9781628974553
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
128 pages