On the surface, Elena Knows appears to be a mystery. However, it investigates more than Rita's death. It examines the impact of a chronic brutal illness on the mother-daughter relationship when the daughter becomes the caregiver. It also looks at how religious dogma influences life choices. In Buenos Aires, where we both live, I spoke with award-winning, best-selling Argentine author Claudia Piñeiro about her book Elena Knows, out in my translation this week from Charco Press. There are also broader issues of motherhood explored: the difficulties that can ensue between mothers and daughters, the stigmatising of women who don't want children - but these are increasingly being written about (at last) and discussed as part of a more public debate.

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I wanted to write a book about such big and vague issues that I felt I needed to locate them in a place that could be contained,” she adds. “I write about love and death, and how they are connected – it doesn’t get more diffuse than that.” Philip Oltermann I loved this book. It's a very emotional, profound, humane, but above all a very powerful and raw story. Very pleased to see this book not just longlisted but now shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022! Translator Frances Riddle has translated many Spanish authors including Isabel Allende, Claudia Pineiro, Leila Guerriero, Maria Femanda Ampero and Sara Gallaro. She’s originally from Houston, Texas and lives in Buenos Aires. On Jan. 24, 2021, abortion became legal in Argentina for the first time since 1886. This landmark shift was the result of decades of committed grass-roots agitation by activists from various walks of life, including the renowned writer Claudia Piñeiro.

That was a pity as the two themes, abortion and Parkinson's, are intertwined in the book—the burden of carrying another body and the right to refuse if the burden is too much for us, seems to have been what motivated the writing of Elena Knows. Amé este libro. Es una historia muy emotiva, muy profunda, muy humana, y sobretodo muy muy fuerte, desgarradora. The Hummingbird has captivated European readers, selling more than 300,000 copies in Italy alone and making Veronesi only the second author to win the Premio Strega, Italy’s most prestigious literary award, twice. The film adaptation is in production in Italy, starring Nanni Moretti (winner of the Cannes Palm d’Or) and Bérénice Bejo (nominated for an Oscar for her role in The Artist) and the novel hashe work has already been translated into 24 languages, with Elena Pala’s English translation lauded by Ian McEwan among others. So now perhaps you pity Rita, for the abject humilThis idea is juxtaposed with the plight of Rita, who has to spend all her time caring for Elena. She does it because she loves her mother, even despite their frequent arguments and annoyances with each other, but the mental toll it takes is severe. There is not enough money for her to seek any outside assistance and here we also see how our own agency to our bodies and our lives is affected by our financial status. Elena Knows looks at all the ways outside influences are vying for possession of bodies and the costs of being the victim in these situations. I have always been fascinated with okapis because they look like made-up animals, or creatures assembled in a drunken stupor,” says 48-year-old Leky, speaking from her flat in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg. “This novel was similar: I wanted to bring together parts that didn’t necessarily feel like they belonged together.”

The Hummingbird by Sandro Veronesi, translated by Elena Pala, is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.Elena Knows”, by Claudia Pineiro was short-listed for the International Booker Prize 2022. Frances Riddle is the translator of this Argentinian story. I’m something else, something that doesn’t have a name, someone she cares about like you might care about a friend, or a neighbour or a roommate or travel companion. But that’s all we are. Travel companions. I don’t know what it feels like to be a mother, Elena, can you tell me?” chapter 2, section III. Elena walked out onto Ramsay street crying, when she got into Roberto Armada’s car he asked her, What’s wrong Elena, why are you crying? They treated me kindly, son, she said, and couldn’t say anything more.” chapter 4, section II. Kathleen Rooney is the author, most recently, of the novels “Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk” and “Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.”

But Elena is not astray. Elena knows. She waits. With her bowed head and her shuffling feet, without seeing the road or what it will bring. She doesn’t go astray, even if she sometimes wanders. But you only know something once you’ve experienced it in your life, life is our greatest test.” chapter 2, section III. Then the discussion turned to the episode in Elena Knows where an abortion clinic is mentioned. Well, it was as if a trigger switch had been flipped. The man in the spare chair exploded into a long incoherent rant about abortion, and about how his girlfriend had wanted one but 'he knew' she must carry the baby until birth, and how right that was, and something about another girlfriend and another baby, and basically the entire story of his parenting life and his pro-life beliefs. He even threw in a mention of Ronald Reagan, insisting he was the 'wisest' man in the world. It’s about asking who are the transparent ones in a country, and who makes them transparent,” he says. “Who are the transparent people in Syria right now, in Palestine, the US? Why do politicians not see specific groups of people?” Rita and Elena must face the monumental task of proving Elena’s disability for the insurance company. At one point Rita asks the agent,My only qualm was the ending felt rather abrupt. Though I see why the author ended it there and I think with time to process it, I think the ending works. As a writer born in Argentina there are inescapable names, such as Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Juan José Saer, Alejandra Pizarnik, Ricardo Piglia, and although it is hard to point to their exact impact on my work other than as a sum of reading of our best literature, the signs of their influence are certainly there. If I had to say which one of our great authors has influenced the way I write more directly, I’d say Manuel Puig. The whole universe of Puig is one I feel very close to: the worlds he created, the secrets, the things left unsaid, his love for cinema, the political aspect to his literature, the place occupied by those who aren’t at the heart of power in society, unexplained appearances, the deterioration of the body, his humour, the emotional world of his characters, his concern for language and for breaking writing conventions. People like your daughter, who didn’t even know me, your daughter who didn’t have the nerve to become a mother herself but who treated my body as if it were hers to use, just like you, today, you didn’t come here to settle a debt but to commit the same crime all over again twenty years later. You came here to use my body.” chapter 2, section III. So yes, Elena Knows is crime fiction, but in many ways assigning it to a genre does it a disservice. It is so much more than a mysterious death: it is an unflinching exploration of aging and illness, of the Catholic church and the way it uses its influence in Argentina, and of the multiple ways women’s bodies are controlled. I found it explosive - breathless - and very exciting to read the sentences & dialogue. They are haunting, but brilliantly alive!