The Promise - Silvina Ocampo

A dying woman's attempt to recount the story of her life reveals the fragility of memory and the illusion of identity. A masterpiece from an extraordinary author who deserves to be read over and over.--Marjorie Agosin, author of I Lived On Butterfly Hillll \nKirkus Reviews calls The Promise one of the Best Books of Fiction, and of Literature in Translation, of the year!* Voted one of the Big Fall Books from Indies by Publishers Weekly & LitHub's Most Anticipated Books of 2019The world is ready for her blend of insane Angela Carter with the originality of Clarice Lispector.--Mariana Enriquez, LitHubBoth her debut story collection, Forgotten Journey, and her only novel, The Promise, are strikingly 20th-century texts, written in a high-modernist mode rarely found in contemporary fiction.--Lily Meyer, NPRSilvina Ocampo is the next writer you should be reading.--Michael SilverblattA dying woman's attempt to recount the story of her life reveals the fragility of memory and the illusion of identity.Of all the words that could define her, the most accurate is, I think, ingenious.--Jorge Luis BorgesI don't know of another writer who better captures the magic inside everyday rituals, the forbidden or hidden face that our mirrors don't show us.--Italo CalvinoFew writers have an eye for the small horrors of everyday life; fewer still see the everyday marvelous. Other than Silvina Ocampo, I cannot think of a single writer who, at any time in any language, has chronicled both with such wise and elegant humor.--Alberto ManguelArt is the cure for death. A seminal work by an underread master. Required for all students of the human condition.--Starred Review, Kirkus ReviewsThis haunting and vital final work from Ocampo, her only novel, is about a woman's life flashing before her eyes when she's stranded in the ocean. . . . the book's true power is its depiction of the strength of the mind and the necessity of storytelling, which for the narrator is literally staving off death. Ocampo's portrait of one woman's interior life is forceful and full of hope.--Gabe Habash, Starred Review, Publishers WeeklyOcampo is beyo