Living in sunny Chile with her partner, Tatum Vega spends her days surrounded by art at the museum where she works. She loves this new life for helping her forget the decade she spent in New York City orbiting the brilliant and famous author M. Domínguez. But when a reporter calls from the US asking for an interview, the careful separation Tatum has constructed between her past and present begins to crumble.
Though Villarreal-Moura’s writing style is a bit buttoned-up, her emotionally astute novel offers a moving perspective on the different kinds of victims abusers leave in their wake. Memorable and incisive, this debut grapples elegantly with the complexity of betrayal.
Accomplished ... Questions of whether and how Mateo groomed Tatum reverberate throughout the subtle and satisfying narrative. This leaves readers with much to chew on.