Prosopagnosia

Sònia Hernández (trans. Samuel Rutter)

‘Fascinating.’

Siobhan Murphy, The Times

‘In this warm, lively, and intellectual novel, Hernández’s greatest achievement is allowing the protagonist to release her trauma in a way that is both simple and true.’

Santos Sanz Villanueva, El Cultural

View all reviews

‘One of the best writers of her generation.’

Inés Martín Rodrigo, ABC

‘A novel of our times that explores the difficulty of constructing oneself as a person and the chaos of how things seem to happen to us.’

Lluís Satorras, Babelia

‘A tale of the conflict between reality and deception, and how the many forms of exile and solitude come together. A beautiful, enigmatic novel.’

Enrique Vila-Matas, El País

‘A reflection on false appearances, assumed identities, the need to invent other lives for ourselves, and the need for art itself.’

Ángel Ortín Pascual, Heraldo de Aragón

‘As structured and well-articulated as the paintings that inspired it.’

Isabel Gómez Melenchón, La Vanguardia

‘[D]elivers a serious reflection on the purpose and meaning of literary fiction.’

Domingo Ródenas, El Periódico

‘For Hernández, plot is just an excuse to articulate her own original ideas about beauty, identity, and exile, and this makes each of her books a declaration of ethical and aesthetic principles. This novel is not a means but an end in itself: the materialisation of her most important themes from life and literature.’

Liliana Muñoz, Criticismo

‘Sònia Hernández’ writing is unsettling and unconventional, marked by a complete independence from the dominant trends of contemporary novels in Spanish.’

Santos Sanz Villanueva, El Mundo

‘Hernández offers many insights into the value of experience, of travel as personal discovery, and the difficulty of explaining ourselves in our own words. A novel of reflection.’

Suárez Lafuente, La Nueva España.

‘A narratively ambitious reflection on art, beauty, motherhood, and identity … A conceptually fascinating book.’

Kirkus Reviews

‘Bewitching and intelligent.’

Happy Magazine

‘This quirky coming-of-age novel by a celebrated young Spanish writer centres on a tender mother-daughter relationship.’

New York Times ‘New & Noteworthy’

‘[B]eguiling … the various characters’ deceptions are unveiled skillfully by Hernández as she distorts the reader’s sense of reality. This novel is more than it seems.’

Publishers Weekly

‘Hernández leads us on a reflection about truth and reality, about perception and beauty. The book is best read slowly, with time to absorb and contemplate our own reality and how we might be deceiving ourselves.’

Asymptote ‘New in Translation’

‘[A]n intellectual and unflinching novel that is not afraid to ask the big questions. What is art? What is beauty? What is truth? Does any of it matter? … Hernández’s economy of language is masterful as she delves into questions that define a culture. Prosopagnosia is an uncanny portrait of what it means to be a human in the world today grappling with beauty, and confronting the way the internet has changed our relationship to art.’

Write or Die Tribe

‘With [Prosopagnosia], Sònia Hernández cements her place as one of the most individual voices of her generation.’

La Vanguardia

A sly and playful novel about the many faces we all have.

Fifteen-year-old Berta says that beautiful things aren’t made for her, or that she isn’t destined to have them, or that the only things she deserves are ugly. It’s why her main activity, when she’s not at school, is playing the ‘prosopagnosia game’ — standing in front of the mirror and holding her breath until she can no longer recognise her own face. An ibis is the only animal she wants for a pet.

Berta’s mother is in her forties. By her own estimation, she is at least twenty kilos overweight, and her husband has just left her. Her whole life, she has felt a keen sense of being very near to the end of things. She used to be a cultural critic for a regional newspaper. Now she feels it is her responsibility to make her and her daughter’s lives as happy as possible.

A man who claims to be the famous Mexican artist Vicente Rojo becomes entangled in their lives when he sees Berta faint at school and offers her the gift of a painting. This sets in motion an uncanny game of assumed and ignored identities, where the limits of what one wants and what one can achieve become blurred. Art, culture, motherhood, and the search for meaning all have a part to play in whether Sònia Hernàndez’ characters recognise what they see within.

‘Fascinating.’

Siobhan Murphy, The Times

‘In this warm, lively, and intellectual novel, Hernández’s greatest achievement is allowing the protagonist to release her trauma in a way that is both simple and true.’

Santos Sanz Villanueva, El Cultural

View all reviews

‘One of the best writers of her generation.’

Inés Martín Rodrigo, ABC

‘A novel of our times that explores the difficulty of constructing oneself as a person and the chaos of how things seem to happen to us.’

Lluís Satorras, Babelia

‘A tale of the conflict between reality and deception, and how the many forms of exile and solitude come together. A beautiful, enigmatic novel.’

Enrique Vila-Matas, El País

‘A reflection on false appearances, assumed identities, the need to invent other lives for ourselves, and the need for art itself.’

Ángel Ortín Pascual, Heraldo de Aragón

‘As structured and well-articulated as the paintings that inspired it.’

Isabel Gómez Melenchón, La Vanguardia

‘[D]elivers a serious reflection on the purpose and meaning of literary fiction.’

Domingo Ródenas, El Periódico

Liliana Muñoz, Criticismo

‘Sònia Hernández’ writing is unsettling and unconventional, marked by a complete independence from the dominant trends of contemporary novels in Spanish.’

Santos Sanz Villanueva, El Mundo

‘Hernández offers many insights into the value of experience, of travel as personal discovery, and the difficulty of explaining ourselves in our own words. A novel of reflection.’

Suárez Lafuente, La Nueva España.

‘A narratively ambitious reflection on art, beauty, motherhood, and identity … A conceptually fascinating book.’

Kirkus Reviews

‘Bewitching and intelligent.’

Happy Magazine

‘This quirky coming-of-age novel by a celebrated young Spanish writer centres on a tender mother-daughter relationship.’

New York Times ‘New & Noteworthy’

‘[B]eguiling … the various characters’ deceptions are unveiled skillfully by Hernández as she distorts the reader’s sense of reality. This novel is more than it seems.’

Publishers Weekly

Asymptote ‘New in Translation’

Write or Die Tribe

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 210mm × 135mm

Extent:128pp

ISBN (13):9781925849721

RRP:$24.99

Pub date:5 Jan 2021

Rights Held: World English

High-res cover:Download Image

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AUTHOR

Sònia Hernández

Sònia Hernández was born in 1976, in Terrassa. Granta named her one of their ‘Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists’ in 2010. A writer and critic, she has contributed to many publications.

TRANSLATOR

Samuel Rutter

Samuel Rutter is a writer and translator from Melbourne, Australia. He has translated contemporary authors including Daniel Sada, Hernán Ronsino, and Matías Celedón and his work has been recognised by English PEN. He is based in Nashville, TN, where he is a MFA Candidate in fiction at Vanderbilt University.

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Prosopagnosia

Sònia Hernández (trans. Samuel Rutter)

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