That’s not to say that Tears of Amber – like Murmur of the Bees, ably translated by Simon Bruni – is a bad book or that Ilse and Arno are subpar characters. Simonopio is a tough act to follow, so it’s no knock on Ilse and Arno, the children at the centre of Tears of Amber, that they suffer a bit by comparison when it comes to implanting themselves in our minds for all time. The book, set in Mexico during the 1918 influenza pandemic, brought to life an unforgettable character named Simonopio, a boy born with no upper lip, gums or palate who is forever followed by a swarm of bees and is graced with mystical powers of premonition. (Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post) Readers in the United States (US) were introduced to Segovia’s lyrical writing and fresh, inventive storytelling in 2019 when her enchanting novel The Murmur of the Bees was published by Amazon Crossing in an English translation. You read a book you love, then you expect all the author’s other works to live up to the one you enjoyed so much.Įven though I fought that inclination, it was with this mindset that I came to Tears of Amber, the latest book translated into English by Mexican writer Sofía Segovia. THE WASHINGTON POST – There’s a burden readers can place on novelists who write really good books.
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