On a dark and stormy night, an unnamed narrator is visited by two women: one a former lover, the other a stranger. They ruthlessly question their host and claim to know his greatest secret: that he is, in fact, a woman. In increasingly desperate attempts to defend his masculinity, perplexed by the stranger's dubious claims to be the writer Amparo Davila, he finds himself spiralling deeper into a haunted past that may or may not be his own. This surreal novel enfolds a masterful exploration of gender in taut, atmospheric mystery. Review: `A key work of Mexican literature.' Elena Poniatowska ---------- `An intelligent, beautiful story about bodies disguised as a story about language disguised as a story about night terrors. Cristina Rivera Garza does not respect what is expected of a writer, of a novel, of language. She is an agitator.' Yuri Herrera --------- `Warning: Cristina Rivera Garza is an explosive writer yet to be fully accounted for in English. An insubordinate stylist, a skilled creator of atmospheric and haunting language, The Iliac Crest is a willfully queer piece where the workings of her wild imagination destabilize everything.' Lina Meruane ---------- `Like the ocean itself, Cristina Rivera Garza writes a world where borders shift and dissolve. In the curves of the fantastic, the highest realism is born. This world is weird. This world is so deeply true. I love this wholly perfect book.' Samantha Hunt Prizes: Winner of International Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Prize 2001 and International Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Prize 2009. Author Biography: Cristina Rivera Garza is an award-winning author, translator and critic, and the only two-time winner of the International Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Prize (2001; 2009). She is currently Distinguished Professor in Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston. ---------- Sarah Booker is a Spanish-to-English translator and a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
