January

(Paperback)

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"Elegant and forceful - I couldn't put it down." - Catherine Lacey, author of Biography of X A pioneering, revelatory masterpiece of modern literature that conjures the life of 16-year-old girl living on the Argentine pampas - now in English for the very first time With echoes of Edith Wharton's Summer, this radical feminist novel broke the silence around abortion to reshape the way women's bodies and rights were perceived in 20th-century Argentina Perfect for readers of Tove Ditlevsen, Annie Ernaux's Happening, and Claudia Pineiro's Elena Knows In the sweltering Argentine pampas, all things bow to Nefer. Reeds nod when she digs her heels into her horse, unripe peaches snap and fall as she gallops past. Sickly-sweet air bends, churns in Nefer's throat. Nefer measures the distance between her body and the table, and feels something filling her up, turning against her. Her belly swells. Desperate, Nefer visits a local medicine woman who is known to perform abortions but Nefer becomes too afraid to explain why she is truly there. She attends confession at church but cannot confide in the priest. During a fierce argument with her mother, she finally blurts out her secret. A radical feminist text, January was the first Argentine novel to represent rape from the survivor's perspective and to explore the life-threatening risks pregnancy posed, in a society where abortion was both outlawed and taboo. With a narcotic musicality and voice scorched through with honesty, Gallardo hangs before us an experience that has been lived and ignored a thousand times over. Nefer closes her eyes. We careen to her and we see.

Reviews

"A crystalline and tightly-wound story of a young woman's tenacious desire for her own freedom and the rigid, Catholic community that is unable to recognize her as a full human being. Elegant and forceful--I couldn't put it down." Catherine Lacey, author ofBiography of X

Sara Gallardo's story bursts with intensity, as a young country girl in Argentina confronts the dreadful fact of an unwanted pregnancy. In her desperation, she sees the landscape, her family, her neighbors, become a phantasmagoric world filled with terror. Nefer's sensitive consciousness is the lens through which we view her situation, as well as the village life surrounding her, all transformed by dread. This is an exciting, unusual excursion into the mind of a girl whose future has suddenly become a nightmare. Lynne Sharon Schwartz

"Sara Gallard's perfect pitch harmonizes with marginalized voices such as Nefer's without ever reducing her to a victim. I often attempt to channel Gallardo's quiet perceptiveness and rebellious prose." Maria Sonia Cristoff

"[January],along with Annie Erneauxs vital book,Happening, and movies such asPortrait of a Lady on Fire, show us the importance of support, and the dangers that come when abortions are sought through sketchy means . . . Im so grateful for the work Riddle and Shaughnessy have done on the translation. I recommend this book to everyone." Tracey Ann Thompson,California Reading

"Rightfully considered a masterpiece of Argentinean literature . . .a powerful examination of class, gender and societal pressure . . . A tour-de-force." Leo Boix, Morning Star

Gallardo tells us an excellentstoryof an unfortunate young woman who, through no fault of her own, is pregnant and has no idea what to do or who to turn to for help. The Modern Novel

In less than120 pages, January offers a vivid, internalized account of a young woman facing impossible odds.. .[January]shows a clear sensitivity to the social dynamics impacting disadvantaged rural communities and the suffocating influence of the Catholic mission churches. But beyond the constraints of her time, it is Nefers private horror, as reflected in her relationship to other people and to the natural environment, that makes this such a compellingand timelessread. Joseph Schreiber, Rough Ghosts

Author Bio

Sara Gallardo was a celebrated Argentinian writer, born in Buenos Aires in 1931. Her debut, January, was published in 1958, and by the time she died in 1988, she had published more than a dozen novels, collections of short stories, children's books, and essays. January received little critical attention when first released and remained out of print for decades before being recovered. It is now assigned reading in high school classrooms across Argentina. Frances Riddle (translator) has translated numerous Spanish-language authors, including Isabel Allende, Claudia Pineiro, Leila Guerriero, Maria Fernanda Ampuero, and Sara Gallardo. Originally from Houston, Texas, she lives in Buenos Aires. Maureen Shaughnessy's (translator) translations from Spanish include works by Hebe Uhart, Nora Lange, Margarita Garcia Robayo, and Luis Nuno. Raised in Portland, she now lives in Bariloche, Argentina. Maureen's translation of Hebe Uhart's The Scent of Buenos Aires was a finalist for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize.