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Home > Translation > The World Bookshelf > Books > Umami

Umami

Deep in the heart of Mexico City, where five houses cluster around a sun-drenched courtyard, lives Ana, a precocious 12-year-old coming to terms with the mysterious death of her little sister years earlier. Over the rainy summer she decides to plant a vegetable garden in the courtyard, and as she digs the ground and plants her seeds, her neighbours in turn delve into their past as questions emerge – who was my wife? Why did my mum leave? Can I turn back the clock? And how could a girl who knew how to swim drown?

Author

Laia Jufresa

Laia Jufresa

Books

Umami

Born in Mexico City, Laia Jufresa grew up in Veracruz and spent her adolescence in Paris. Her work has been featured in several anthologies and magazines such as Letras Libres, PEN Atlas, Words Without Borders and McSweeney’s, and she was named one of the most outstanding young writers in Mexico as part of the project México20. In 2015 she was invited by the British Council to be the first ever International Writer in Residence at the Hay Festival of Literature. She currently lives in Cologne, Germany.

Translator

Sophie Hughes

Sophie Hughes

Books

Umami

Affections

The Sorrows of Mexico

Sophie Hughes’ translations and reviews have appeared in the Guardian, Asymptote, The White Review, The Times Literary Supplement and Music & Literature. She has worked as an editor-at large for Asymptote and translation correspondent for Dazed & Confused, and in 2015 she co guest edited a Words Without Borders feature on contemporary Mexican literature.

Published by

Oneworld Publications, 2016
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Deep in the heart of Mexico City, where five houses cluster around a sun-drenched courtyard, lives Ana, a precocious 12-year-old coming to terms with the mysterious death of her little sister years earlier. Over the rainy summer she decides to plant a vegetable garden in the courtyard, and as she digs the ground and plants her seeds, her neighbours in turn delve into their past as questions emerge – who was my wife? Why did my mum leave? Can I turn back the clock? And how could a girl who knew how to swim drown?

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