Clean

(Paperback)

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A spellbinding nightmare Addictive FERNANDA MELCHOR

'Compelling, claustrophobic and irresistible' PAULA HAWKINS

Grippingly original, a book of intense power PHILIPPE SANDS

One of the most powerful voices of current Chilean literature EL MUNDO
The shockingly compulsive new novel from the International Booker-shortlisted author of The Remainder.

Clean begins with an inescapable fact: a girl has died. Told by Estela, a maid to a wealthy, middle class family who speaks to us from a locked room, we hear of her plight and the circumstances that led to this moment. As we enter into her account of her daily existence, we see how her apparently simple life begins to sour, but would that drive her to the unthinkable

Disturbing and profound, Clean explores domestic work, class and violence, against the backdrop of Chiles changing political landscape. This is one of the most daring and compelling thrillers in international literature.

Clean is the best book of the year. It is the novel of a vital and truly extraordinary writer LA TERCERA

'Disturbing and commanding' LALINE PAULL

Brutal, beautiful, feverishly propulsive, a novel to lose yourself in JENNY MUSTARD

Reviews

What a spellbinding nightmare Alia Trabucco Zern has written. A biting, addictive portrait of the rot good families conceal Fernanda Melchor, author of Hurricane Season

Compelling, claustrophobic and irresistible, Clean is both a masterclass in suspense and a clear-eyed portrait of isolation and grief. Extraordinary Paula Hawkins, author of Blind Spot

Grippingly original, a book of intense power Philippe Sands, author of The Last Colony

Clean is the best book of the year. It is the novel of a vital and truly extraordinary writer La Tercera

'Told in the disturbing and commanding voice of a domestic maid, this gripping intimate story savages the status quo to demand a kinder world. Highly recommended' Laline Paull, author of Pod

'Brutal, beautiful, feverishly propulsive, a novel to lose yourself in. It leaves you angry, saddened, and completely mesmerised. I will read whatever Trabucco Zern writes next. Just stunning Jenny Mustard, author of Okay Days

One of the most powerful voices of current Chilean literature El Mundo

Overwhelming tragic and essential El Mundo

Clean is that glorious thing: a beautifully written and profound psychological thriller of lives and a society on the point of implosion Lucie Whitehouse, author of Last Witness

Those who read Clean are met with life looking straight at them, stripped of any mask and without the option to look the other way El Diario

'Dazzling and overwhelming' Lina Meruane

'Lucid, ruthless and brutal' Federico Falco

'An amazing novel, using the monologue of a woman whose only possession is her voice' Emiliano Monge

'Full of powerful scenes that combine with incredible mastery explosions of language with implosions of plot and vice versa' El Pas

Author Bio

Alia Trabucco Zern was born in Chile in 1983. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for her MFA in Creative Writing at New York University and she holds a PhD in Spanish and Latin American Studies from University College London. La Resta (The Remainder), her debut novel, won the prize for Best Unpublished Literary Work awarded by the Chilean Council for the Arts in 2014, and on publication was chosen by El Pas as one of its top ten debuts of 2015. In 2019 The Remainder was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and translated into nine languages. Alia splits her time between Chile and the UK. She is the recipient of an Arts Council England DWCP grant and will be researching her next book in the UK in a few months.