Time of the Flies
Published on 6. August 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
356 pages
978-1-913867-86-7 (ISBN)
Description
Life after crime from the International Booker-shortlisted author of Elena Knows
Fifteen years after killing her husband's lover, Ines is fresh out of prison and trying to put together a new life. Her old friend Manca is out now too, and they've started a business - FFF, or Females, Fumigation, and Flies - dedicated to pest control and private investigation, by women, for women. But Senora Bonar, one of their clients, wants Ines to do more than kill bugs - she wants her expertise, and her criminal past, to help her kill her husband's lover, too. Crimes against women versus crimes by women; culpability, fallibility, and our responsibilities to each other-this is Pineiro at her wry, earthy best, alive to all the ways we shape ourselves to be understandable, to be understood, by family and love and other hostile forces.
Fifteen years after killing her husband's lover, Ines is fresh out of prison and trying to put together a new life. Her old friend Manca is out now too, and they've started a business - FFF, or Females, Fumigation, and Flies - dedicated to pest control and private investigation, by women, for women. But Senora Bonar, one of their clients, wants Ines to do more than kill bugs - she wants her expertise, and her criminal past, to help her kill her husband's lover, too. Crimes against women versus crimes by women; culpability, fallibility, and our responsibilities to each other-this is Pineiro at her wry, earthy best, alive to all the ways we shape ourselves to be understandable, to be understood, by family and love and other hostile forces.
Reviews / Votes
"This propulsive novel lays bare the struggles of living under patriarchy." -Publishers Weekly"Pineiro is delightfully successful at marrying the joy of a crime novel with the intelligence, and deep characterization, of literary fiction." -Words Without Borders
"The vibrancy of Pineiro's writing is never lost in translation in Frances Riddle's nuanced and meticulously crafted English version." -Sounds & Colours
"For fans of crime novels, revenge, and translated novels!" -Book Riot
"Hard-hitting and direct." -The Times Literary Supplement
"Entertains and provokes in equal measure." -Southwest Review
"Time of the Flies is orchestral: a page turner that is also a crime novel, a thriller, a meditation on feminism, our choices, our lack of choices. As Pineiro unpacks her Pandora box of stories, voices, preoccupations, characters, you wonder, how on earth will she weave them together? Not that you care-her ability to be everybody and everything, including flies, carries you along. An absorbing read, for sure, and oh what a satisfying pleasure to see all the pieces come together-painful satisfaction, because then, you know, the novel will soon be over." -Julia Alvarez , author of HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS and IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES
"The novel portrays the new life of the main character and the culture shock she experiences on encountering a world that is much more feminist than the one she remembers, when she only knew a single way to be a woman." -elDiarioAR
"A detective novel that corroborates this writer's experience with the genre and her capacity to travel to the darkest corners of the human soul, always from multiple perspectives." -Hermeneuta Revista Cultural
"As they try to rebuild their lives on release from prison, Ines and Manca experience ups and downs that show them that love is not always what we call love and that we do not always feel what we really think we feel. In the realm of the emotions, there are no absolute truths either." -Tiempo Argentino
"It is a stimulating exercise to imagine the challenges characters who embody a particular period would face in the present day. This is what Pineiro attempts here, and hits the nail on the head with Ines, who resonates with irreverent questions about the possibility of being contemporary and wholly genuine at the same time." -La Nacion
"Pineiro interweaves the stories of Ines and Manca in a kind of suburban Thelma and Louise, with a chorus of women who debate subjects such as the achievements of feminism, inclusive language and abortion, among other matters" -Pagina/12
"Like fabric, this book is woven from different textualities. Intermittently, a chorus appears who comment, in the style of Ancient Greek theatre, on what is happening. (...) Combined with these voices are texts from well-known figures: Rebecca Solnit, Rita Segato, Judith Butler, Vivian Gornick, Marguerite Duras..." -Infobae
"The intellectual, artistic and creative challenges expressed in Time of the Flies confront us with the destruction of the archetypes of specific periods, where the resistances and oppositions are intense and come from all sides." -Diario Cine y Literatura CL
"Once inside (as you will find out for yourself) there is no let-up." -El Espanol
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Not illustrated
Dimensions
Height: 193 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
370 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-913867-86-7 (9781913867867)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
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Persons
Born in Buenos Aires in 1960, Claudia Pineiro is a best-selling author, known internationally for her novels that, while rooted in the crime genre, frequently address social issues. She has won numerous national and international prizes, including the Pepe Carvalho Prize, the LiBeraturpreis for Elena Knows and the prestigious Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Prize for Las grietas de Jara (A Crack in the Wall). Many of her novels have been adapted for the big screen, including Elena Knows (Netflix). Pineiro is the third most translated Argentinean author after Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar. She's also a playwright and scriptwriter (including popular Netflix series The Kingdom ). Her novel Elena Knows was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize.
Frances Riddle has translated numerous Spanish-language authors including Isabel Allende, Claudia Pineiro, Leila Guerriero, and Sara Gallardo. Her translation of Theatre of War by Andrea Jeftanovic was granted an English PEN Award in 2020. Her work has appeared in journals such as Granta, Electric Literature , and The White Review , among others. She holds a BA in Spanish Language Literature from Louisiana State University and an MA in Translation Studies from the University of Buenos Aires. In 2022, Frances' translation of Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Originally from Houston, Texas she lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Frances Riddle has translated numerous Spanish-language authors including Isabel Allende, Claudia Pineiro, Leila Guerriero, and Sara Gallardo. Her translation of Theatre of War by Andrea Jeftanovic was granted an English PEN Award in 2020. Her work has appeared in journals such as Granta, Electric Literature , and The White Review , among others. She holds a BA in Spanish Language Literature from Louisiana State University and an MA in Translation Studies from the University of Buenos Aires. In 2022, Frances' translation of Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Originally from Houston, Texas she lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.