Fever Dream

Samanta Schweblin · b. 1978 · Argentina

Originally Distancia de rescate (Spanish) · translated by Megan McDowell

Why it matters

A dying woman and a strange boy race against her fading consciousness to pinpoint the exact moment her daughter crossed into fatal, poisoned danger. Schweblin's International Booker-shortlisted novel compresses an entire ecological horror story into one unbroken, unbearable conversation.

At a glance

A single unbroken dialogue with withheld context and mounting dread demands close, uneasy attention.