Andrea Abreu will present her new novel, Pajaritos Preñados, at the Insular Library on 12 September at 12:30. Published by Anagrama on 2 September, the book explores themes of desire, violence, possession, and guilt.
This marks Abreu’s return after six years with a narrative that intertwines the rhythm of language with the physicality of its characters and their surroundings. The story follows Cathaysa, a teenager navigating a harsh environment alongside her father, El Tiznado, as their lives diverge and reflect each other.
Set in a steep-banked neighbourhood shrouded in mist from the north of Tenerife, Cathaysa turns sixteen feeling as though everything is happening too quickly, yet nothing is truly changing. She grows up in a relentless setting where the past lingers, adapting and finding new ways to persist. Here, amidst her burgeoning understanding of desire, childhood doesn’t simply end; it fractures into countless pieces.
The narrative also delves into El Tiznado’s world, revealing a hedonistic spirit grappling with precarity, absence, and guilt. It features an array of characters, including Cathaysa’s mother, Engracia—whom she resists seeing as a reflection of herself—her Uncle Aurelio, and friends La Mancha and Chaxiraxi, who share a sisterly bond of affectionate bickering. The arrival of another man and a longing for escape prompt both Cathaysa and her father to navigate uncertain paths, where choices may not amount to real options.
Cajaritos Preñados captures the canarian oral tradition through the sharp, contradictory voices of its protagonists, supported by a chorus of observing women and silent men. It paints an emotional landscape where love intertwines with possession, tenderness with violence, and desire with danger.
Andrea Abreu’s distinctive writing transforms the oral narrative into literary material, crafting a universe where language resonates with the bodies and landscapes it depicts. Eschewing a patronising viewpoint, her work delves into the complexity of unspoken truths and the intimacy of her characters, revealing the starkness of daily life and the fragility of those striving to envision another existence.
Born in Tenerife in 1995, Abreu is a celebrated writer and journalist. She was recognised in 2021 by Granta as one of the twenty-five best authors of her generation. Her debut novel, Panza de Burro, won the Dulce Chacón Narrative Prize and was hailed as the best debut in Spanish at the prestigious Festival du Premier Roman de Chambéry, achieving critical and commercial success with over 100,000 copies sold and translations in nearly thirty languages.
