“Maternity and all of the profound alterations that weigh on women—along with the procession of doubts and worries, sorrows and responsibilities—take control of this story that is very realistic, and very contemporary when it comes to the issues surrounding the situation, women’s sensibilities, and even men’s attitudes. The siege of infancy and preadolescence is also viewed comprehensively here, with profound humanity. Life itself, as it is, sprouts and is sustained here, in a precise and very expressive narration that makes it feel real and true.”

“La hija única is not just a novel about maternity, but a novel about bonds, relationships, and different ways of becoming family in this world.”

“La hija única is a very well-constructed story, perfectly balanced, a fluid reading experience where everything fits together...Nettel opens maternity to the world, liberates it from social mandates, and lets it fly through spaces of solidarity.”

“Nettel offers us an extremely accomplished novel about a topic that demands, above all, moral mastery (...) I wasn’t surprised by the confidence in Nettel’s strokes, because what can be said about Nettel—who has evolved with tenacity and wisdom from novel to novel—can only be said about few of our authors (...) I think that La hija única by Guadalupe Nettel is an exceptional work.”

“Nettel’s skill, along with her prodigious talent, forces readers to look at the world around them with alienation by the end of the novel, finally liberated from the mold of the theoretical normal. Because reality can still surprise us, if we let it.”

“With a calm pace and in a minor key, La hija única traverses in a complex universe, turning into an unsettling novel with profound resonance that is difficult to forget.”

“Still Born is a moving, nuanced exploration of motherhood and the complexity of the maternal instinct.”

“Solitude, the vulnerabilities of the body, unearthing the beautiful in the strange, outsiders who are unwilling to conform – these are some of Guadalupe Nettel’s interests. (...) There is a strong tradition of works that connect maternal ambivalence to horror tropes – Rosemary’s Baby, The Fifth Child, We Need to Talk about Kevin – but Still Born is different.”

“A novel about the choices women make over whether to have children, and what happens if their offspring turn out differently from how they expected. An unsentimental and tightly plotted story.”

“Nettel, whose earlier work has at times veered toward the phantasmagoric, is all the more haunting here for her vivid realism. “Still Born,” translated by Rosalind Harvey, is a heart-racingly intense journey.”

“Using spare, potent prose, Nettel mines the complexities of feminism, caregiving, and what it means to love unconditionally … This will resonate with readers.”

“A deeply felt, refreshingly honest story of two friends finding their ways down different paths.”

“Timely and nuanced questions of motherly and sibling love float through . . . [a] sneakily profound book . . . Nettel’s prose is clear; Harvey’s translation is elegant, and the stories Laura tells are straightforward.”

“[Still Born] blurs the lines between parents and caregivers, between family members and strangers, between mother and not-mother (...) You don’t have to be a mother—in fact, maybe you shouldn’t be. But you have to do something for whomever you find in, or near, your nest.”

“Nettel writes intimately of the women’s lives — their choices, their concerns, and ultimately their community — in prose that is compelling and complex, bracingly honest and yet heartrending in another thoughtful translation by Harvey.”