
Still Born is a moving, nuanced exploration of motherhood and the complexity of the maternal instinct. Guadalupe Nettel’s fourth novel, it tells the story of two close friends, Laura and Alina, who are united in their belief that parenthood is to be avoided and that there is no worse fate than to become one of the hordes of ‘zombie-like mothers’ they see around them.
The friends drift apart for a while, as people in their twenties often do – Laura to work on her thesis, Alina to settle into comfortable domesticity – and when they meet again, Laura’s perspective remains set in stone, while Alina now wants a baby more than anything else in the world.
What follows is a complicated journey from pregnancy to new life, during which both Alina and Laura’s views on parenthood are put to the test as life throws complications at them that they could never have envisaged. All sides of the argument are handled with delicacy and insight, and aside from a recurring pigeon metaphor that feels a little too on-the nose, the writing is subtle, sharp, and beautifully rendered thanks to Rosalind Harvey’s smooth translation. The ending of Still Born, when it comes, is ambiguous but also hopeful.
Still Born, Guadalupe Nettel [trans. Rosalind Harvey] (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
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words JOSHUA REES