Urgent Matters

There’s a devastating train crash in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Amid the chaos, a prayer card of Saint Expeditus – the “patron saint of urgent matters” – mysteriously floats above the wreckage and body parts. It is seized upon by Hugo. He is wanted for murder and, seemingly against the odds, manages to survive and gets rescued from the carnage relatively unscathed. With unidentified bodies as cover, Hugo takes his chance to walk away from the debris – and the difficulties in his old life. However, there is a dogged detective on the trail. Journalist and feminist activist Paula Rodriguez’s debut novel beautifully evokes the sense of disjointed strangeness and shattered reality after a major disaster. This is such a great opening for a novel, although there is a sense that something is slightly obscured in the translation.

6/10