In this fourth instalment of Rosende’s “wrong woman” cycle, the anti-heroine Úrsula López flees from Inspector Leonilda Lima and from Montevideo to accidentally find herself in an area bordering Brazil.

‘You will never get out of here’, is something that Úrsula has heard before. They are her memories merging with the present, a shot of adrenaline that she must deal with to survive. Fire will leave its mark on the lives of the characters who have tried to corner Úrsula in the past as well as on new, unknown and threatening enemies.

The pages of this book will accompany Úrsula observing her attempts at transformation and how, in that otherness, the possibility of redemption arises, of a different opportunity, which some, perhaps, will confuse with a happy ending.

From the Montevideo graveyard to the frontier landscapes of the North of the country Rosende builds a noir that is as dizzying as it is existential; a crime novel peppered with acid humour that entertains, challenges, and declares war on the reader’s own ghosts and prejudices.

“A noir that is vertiginous as much as it is existential[…]With the acid humour that characterizes Mercedes Rosende’s excellent prose […]I recommend starting it in the daytime if you don’t want to spend the night awake.” – Maximiliano Rodríguez Vecino

 

About the ‘Ursula cycle’:

“It reads like a marvellous mash-up of Anita Brookner and Quentin Tarantino.” — The Times

“This crime novel is one thing above all: wonderfully unpredictable.” — Frankfurter Rundschau

“Fast, slick and acerbically funny: buckle up and enjoy the ride.” — The Guardian

 

350 pages – Original language: Spanish (PLANETA Uruguay, 2023)