Carola Saavedra

'Memory tends to deceive, memory and time and the desire for things to be the way we think they were.'

In his new apartment, recently divorced Marcos starts receiving letters addressed to the previous tenant. Curious, he opens them and then over the course of a couple of weeks he starts to become obsessed with the story behind these letters, signed only as 'A'. As the letters develop, the female writer of these letters explores what turns out to have been a toxic relationship with this other man. Her version of events constantly shifts, and the reader starts to question exactly what is truth and what is unreliable memory. Unable to sleep, and becoming increasingly alienated from his ex-wife, daughter and his work, Marcos manages to track down the man to whom the letters are addressed, but the outcome is not what he might have expected.

This is a challenging, engaging novel from the Brazilian writer Carola Saavedra. If you are looking for easy answers then this is not the book for you. The transposition of A's relationship and Marcos' life makes for an intelligent exploration of love, desire and intimacy. But the lack of resolution becomes more and more unsettling; as A plays over certain events again and again, so Marcos feels himself questioning his own priorities. As the novel ends he, and the reader, is left to question what 'meaning' the letters and the events that have unfolded actually have.

Beautifully written, this is a quiet and subtle work of fiction, well deserving attention and a wide audience. 4 stars.… (mehr)