Woodworm by Layla Martinez
The house remembers what the living forget. The house breathes -it keeps its dead close and nobody ever leaves. A grandmother and a granddaughter live together under its roof, surrounded by the ghosts of its past. When a local boy disappears, the two women combine forces with the spirits that haunt them in the pursuit of something that resembles justice. Woodworm is a furious, class-conscious horror that drags generations of monsters into the sun, every page drenched with dread and strange beauty. ‘Tense, chilling’ Mariana Enriquez ‘Lays bare intergenerational horror and feminine rage’ Stylist
An incredible reinvention of the haunted house as a place marked by history’s ghosts * Financial Times *
This supernatural story of an outcast girl and her grandmother lays bare intergenerational horror, feminine rage and the taking back of power. * Stylist *
Wonderfully bizarre and ceaselessly creepy... filled with strangeness, and delivered with sharp and fast prose. Through it all, Martínez explores larger topics of class resentment and the lingering effects of evil. Intergenerational trauma and monsters share the spotlight in this terrific debut. * New York Times *
A house of women and shadows, built from poetry and revenge. Layla Martínez’s tense, chilling novel tells a story of specters, class war, violence and loneliness, as naturally as if the witches had dictated this lucid, terrible nightmare to Martínez themselves. -- Mariana Enriquez, author of OUR SHARE OF THE NIGHT
If you’re in the mood to read a story about a haunted house that will make your skin crawl, then I cannot recommend Woodworm enough. This book has everything, from witches to saints to angels that look like praying mantises to some of the most unsettling portrayals of ghosts that I’ve come across in a long time. * Polygon *
Martinez’s debut novel takes cabin fever to the max in this story of a grandmother, granddaughter, and their haunted house, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. As the story unfolds, so do the house’s secrets, the two women must learn to collaborate with the malevolent spirits living among them. * The Millions *
A sophisticated ghost story…breathes new life into the classic haunted house motif through Martinez's vivid exploration of generational trauma, violence, misogyny, and class. Readers won’t soon forget this striking tale. * Publishers Weekly *
Martínez’s prose is fairly straightforward with a menacing snarl.…There are interesting dynamics simmering underneath, not least the palpable sense of inherited trauma and the oppressive nature of inequality.…A ghost story buried in a family closet laden with skeletons and sins. * Kirkus Reviews *
It pounces on us from the first line and doesn’t let go until the last, if it lets go. The Gothic revival continues to expand and produce great works. -- Edmundo Paz Soldán, author of NORTE
Woodworm is a true literary event. -- Belén Gopegui, author of STAY THIS DAY AND NIGHT WITH ME
This book is the revenge of an intergenerational wound, the embrace of barbarity, the loss of morals when trying to protect your loved ones. This book is the miserable and the wretched saying ‘enough is enough.’ -- Alana S. Portero, author of BAD HABIT
This supernatural story of an outcast girl and her grandmother lays bare intergenerational horror, feminine rage and the taking back of power. * Stylist *
Wonderfully bizarre and ceaselessly creepy... filled with strangeness, and delivered with sharp and fast prose. Through it all, Martínez explores larger topics of class resentment and the lingering effects of evil. Intergenerational trauma and monsters share the spotlight in this terrific debut. * New York Times *
A house of women and shadows, built from poetry and revenge. Layla Martínez’s tense, chilling novel tells a story of specters, class war, violence and loneliness, as naturally as if the witches had dictated this lucid, terrible nightmare to Martínez themselves. -- Mariana Enriquez, author of OUR SHARE OF THE NIGHT
If you’re in the mood to read a story about a haunted house that will make your skin crawl, then I cannot recommend Woodworm enough. This book has everything, from witches to saints to angels that look like praying mantises to some of the most unsettling portrayals of ghosts that I’ve come across in a long time. * Polygon *
Martinez’s debut novel takes cabin fever to the max in this story of a grandmother, granddaughter, and their haunted house, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. As the story unfolds, so do the house’s secrets, the two women must learn to collaborate with the malevolent spirits living among them. * The Millions *
A sophisticated ghost story…breathes new life into the classic haunted house motif through Martinez's vivid exploration of generational trauma, violence, misogyny, and class. Readers won’t soon forget this striking tale. * Publishers Weekly *
Martínez’s prose is fairly straightforward with a menacing snarl.…There are interesting dynamics simmering underneath, not least the palpable sense of inherited trauma and the oppressive nature of inequality.…A ghost story buried in a family closet laden with skeletons and sins. * Kirkus Reviews *
It pounces on us from the first line and doesn’t let go until the last, if it lets go. The Gothic revival continues to expand and produce great works. -- Edmundo Paz Soldán, author of NORTE
Woodworm is a true literary event. -- Belén Gopegui, author of STAY THIS DAY AND NIGHT WITH ME
This book is the revenge of an intergenerational wound, the embrace of barbarity, the loss of morals when trying to protect your loved ones. This book is the miserable and the wretched saying ‘enough is enough.’ -- Alana S. Portero, author of BAD HABIT
Layla Martínez is a writer and translator from Madrid. She writes about music for El Salto, and about television for La Última Hora. Since 2014 she has co-directed the independent publisher Antipersona. Woodworm is her first novel. Sophie Hughes is the translator of over twenty novels by authors such as Fernanda Melchor, Alia Trabucco Zerán and Enrique Vila-Matas. She has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and the Dublin Literary Award, and longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. In 2021, she was awarded the Queen Sofía Translation Prize. Annie McDermott’s translations from Spanish and Portuguese include books by Selva Almada, Mario Levrero, Enrique Vila-Matas, Ariana Harwicz and Lídia Jorge. Her work has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and longlisted for a National Book Award, and in 2022 she was awarded the Valle-Inclán Translation Prize.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781787303973 |
| ISBN 10 | 1787303977 |
| Title | Woodworm |
| Author | Layla Martinez |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2024-05-02 |
| Number of pages | 144 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |