3.5 stars.

This is a short poetic tale that manages to pack so much into it. The story follows a woman who, desperate for a better life, leaves her tiny drought-stricken village on foot to find her son, who migrated years ago. Her husband, after some doubt, sets out to follow and find her. They are both experiencing their own challenges, but their love for each other and their hope of reuniting their family, really shines through.

The prose is sparse, quiet, and very poetic, and I read it very quickly. Everything is so beautifully and vividly described, so you truly feel transported to this landscape of cliffs above the Argentine pampas.

I really loved the first part of the story, but part 2 was a bit disjointed for me, and there is a very open ending that I found a little confusing. However, it wouldn't stop me from recommending this!

Thank you to World Editions and Netgalley for the eARC!

All That Dies in April captivated me initially with its sparse prose and interesting narrative voice. I was intrigued by the dual quests of Lina and Relicario and keen to see where their travels would lead them. However, once things shifted in the book's second half, my attention did waiver a little. The flow of the narrative became more disjointed and I was not able to follow events so clearly. The themes of the book were well established despite the short page count and offered a snapshot of the living experience of those at the poorer end of the society in Latin America, with additional thought on the meaning of family and connection to ancestors and land. I only wished I could have been more engaged with the ending of the story, as that second part didn't resonate with me as well as the opening had. Nonetheless, I am giving this book 4 stars. Even if its style didn't completely suit my tastes, it was still a fascinating work I am glad I had the opportunity to read.

Mariana Travacio is an Argentinian writer, and All That Dies in April is her second novel. Originally published in Argentina as Quebrada, in 2022, it has made its way to our shores through a superb translation by Will Morningstar and Samantha Schnee.

Lina lives in the harsh, mountainous area above the Argentinian pampas, with her husband, Relicario. When their son goes missing, Lina sets out across these desolate lands in search of him. Relicario sets out later, on donkey, with a sack of bones of his ancestors' bones.

This is a short novel, with short chapters, but it packs a lot in and it's intensity gives it really power. It is a propulsive novel, full of local detail which really makes All That Dies in April really sing. Travacio is a superb writer and I really hope her first novel makes it to print in an English translation.

The publishers of this novel are choosing one novel per country starting with A for Argentina moving through the alphabet. This then is the first in that series - and if this is the quality of novel they are going for, then this series promises to be one of the highlights of the literary calendar for some time to come.

Thank you to World Editions and Netgalley for the ARC.

4.5⭐
I devoured this short novel by Argentinian writer, Mariana Travacio, in one sitting. It’s beautifully written and translated and there’s a timeless quality to both the story and the writing which gives it the feeling of a fable or epic.

It’s a story in two parts about the journeys, both physical and emotional, of three members of a family, mother, father and son, each of whom in separate journeys leaves the harsh drought stricken and mountainous region (the quebrada) high above the pampas, each in a quest for different things. The first half is set in the quebrada and the second half in the lush fertile pampas below which in April is innondated with rain.

It’s tautly written in spare prose, well paced with a strong emotional charge and there’s an undercurrent of menace throughout, underscored by the hostile environment. Death is ever present,
Including in the bones of the family’s ancestors which accompany the father on his journey along with his faithful donkey,
who is a brilliant character in his own right.

I loved:
- the two contrasting narrators: the first part is told by the mother and the second by a young man who lives in the pampas: interesting to see the story develop from the perspective of those making the journey and also from those in the destination (like The Odyssey);
- the two very different settings: the quebrada (all rock, stone, snakes, goats sheer precipices where nothing grows) and the pampas (grassy, lush, fertile, cows, flooded, rainy, muddy);
- the themes of displacement, home, migration, climate change, ancestral memory, healing and what each generation owes to the previous one.

The only thing holding me back from giving this five stars is the very abrupt ending, although I quite admired the boldness of the writer in making this choice.

Thank you to NetGalley and World Editions for an ARC. Very excited to continue reading World Editjons "Read the World A to Z" series, which features one book of translated fiction from Argentina to Zambia.

#marianatravacio #allthatdiesinapril #womenintranslation #translatedfiction #literaryfiction

Set in the stark and drought-stricken landscape of cliffs and precipices high above the Argentinian Pampas, where it is becoming increasingly hard to survive, the story follows one small family torn between staying and leaving in search of a better life. A couple’s opposing instincts – his to stay, hers to leave – come to a head when she decides to leave by herself. Eventually he follows her. The struggle between what they know and what they hope to find is bleakly described, and their travails on their journeys is heart-wrenching and deeply moving. These are simple people but their desires are the same as anyone’s. A story of displacement, community, family and migration, it’s a short work but a powerful and lyrical one.

A short, lyrical novel following the movement of a family seeking a better life than in their climate change striken ancestral home. Brings to life those harmed by violence and displacement.

High in the mountains of Argentina, there is very little hope left. Lina and Relicario's son left years ago, looking for work; the region has dried up, and there is little work and little greenery and little hope for anything different in the future. Lina wants to leave, to seek her son and a different future. Relicario cannot imagine leaving their dead behind.

This is the first in the series of translated works, one for each letter of the alphabet. Argentina is A, Belgium is B, China is C, and the rest remains to be seen (as does what the series will do when it gets to W and X! At least with W there's the disputed territory of Western Sahara, but I'm not sure where you'd go with X). I love the concept; I've long liked the idea of doing a round-the-world book tour and reading a book from every country, but unfortunately, I've also met myself and am aware that I'm bad at that sort of challenge. There are just too many other things I want to read to lock myself into ~200 books based on location.

"All That Dies in April" makes for something of a curiosity of a book, drifting dream-like in places and all too aware of human frailty in others. Lina is too practical to hold on to all that she has ever known, while Relicario carries on soothing conversations with the dead. She's content to adapt to the unknown, I think, while he's content to adapt to a world withering around him, as long as it's the world he is familiar with.

Later in the book, perspectives shift, and I had a harder time holding on to who was speaking and what their content was. This turned the book from a 4-star to a 3.5-star read for me, but still a very engaging read. As the book goes on, the cracks lower down, where the grass is green and the living is relatively easier, start to show. The ending is fairly abrupt, but in a way that is fitting for the book.

I don't want to commit to ~26 unknown books (and am not all that interested in the Belgian or Chinese books picked for the series), but you can bet that I'll be keeping an interested eye on what comes next. (And: If you looked at a list of countries in alphabetical order, which countries would you choose to read books from?)

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.