Thirst

Translated by Heather Cleary

‘It takes courage to write about vampires: they are the greatest of monsters, but also the most trivialised. Marina Yuszczuk manages to bring hers to life in this intimate take on the genre, which also weaves together grief, the history of Buenos Aires, and the voracity of desire.’ Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of Night

A breakout, genre-blurring novel from one of the most exciting new voices of Latin America’s feminist gothic.

Across two different time periods, two women confront fear, loneliness, mortality, and a haunting yearning that will not let them rest. In the nineteenth century, a vampire arrives from Europe to the coast of Buenos Aires, on the run from the Church. She must adapt, intermingle with humans, and, most importantly, be discreet.

In present-day Buenos Aires, a woman finds herself at an impasse as she grapples with her mother’s terminal illness and her own relationship with motherhood. When she first encounters the vampire in a cemetery, something ignites within the two women — and they cross a threshold from which there’s no turning back.

Thirst plays with the boundaries of genre while exploring the limits of female agency, the consuming power of desire, and the fragile vitality of even the most immortal of creatures.

‘This gripping tale is full of queer representation and lush, lyrical passages, all while exploring death with an air of nihilism … Vampires are making a comeback, and Yuszczuk is spearheading their revival with this bloody novel.’ The New York Times

‘Yuszcuk allows her vampire to resonate with the brutal world of colonial Argentina, though ultimately the author is more interested in gender and vampirism’s traditional association with female sexuality … Thirst, intelligently and stylishly written — as per the translation by Heather Cleary — is definitely one of the superior reincarnations of the vampire story.’ Maria Takolander, The Saturday Paper