Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020
1872. The pampas of Argentina. China is a young woman eking out an existence in a remote gaucho encampment. After her no-good husband is conscripted into the army, China bolts for freedom, setting off on a wagon journey through the pampas in the company of her new-found friend Liz, a settler from Scotland. While Liz provides China with a sentimental education and schools her in the nefarious ways of the British Empire, their eyes are opened to the wonders of Argentina’s richly diverse flora and fauna, cultures and languages, as well as to the ruthless violence involved in nation-building.
This subversive retelling of Argentina’s foundational gaucho epic Martín Fierro is a celebration of the colour and movement of the living world, the open road, love and sex, and the dream of lasting freedom. With humour and sophistication, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara has created a joyful, hallucinatory novel that is also an incisive critique of national myths.
International Booker Prize (Shortlist)
"A thrilling and mystical miniature epic." ―The Guardian
"[The Adventures of China Iron] reminds us, in Cabezón Cámara’s entrancing poetry, how magical and frankly unpleasant it is to live through history." ―New York Times
"[The Adventures of China Iron] compels readers to examine critically not only the biases of the myths we celebrate, but also how they seep into our contemporary understandings of nationhood." ―LA Review of Books
"Brilliantly translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre, this is a heartfelt, dreamlike paean to Argentina’s past and what might have been had the pampas been left alone." ―The Times Literary Supplement
"Cabezón Cámara’s exciting LGBTQ look at pioneers of the pampas makes for a rewarding and subversive treat." ―Publishers Weekly
"Shaking loose new possibilities for how we might reshape the present precisely by unsettling something seemingly so settled as the past." ―Music & Literature
"Daring." ―The Financial Times
"A daring, playful story." ―New Statesman
"A wonderful reading experience, filled with light, joy, discovery, friendship, and love." ―The Massachusetts Review
"An unexpected ride that delivers on all accounts." ―DIVA Magazine
"By disrupting pedagogical nationalist representations, Cámara’s story enables all those places in the margins to re-signify constructs of the Argentine people." ―Wasafiri
Best books published in Latin America 2017. ―New York Times (Español)
"A transformative adventure, wholly romantic and sublime, at times even supernatural in its message of discovery." ―Books and Bao
"A thrilling book that has a little of everything that I look for in a novel." ―SubText
"10 Best Translated Books 2019" ―Books and Bao
Globetrotting: Your sneak preview of books in translation ―New York Times
"It’s moving and intelligent and funny and all of it is fun (so much fun)." ―Mark Haber, Brazos Bookstore
"Best books dealing with feminism, sisterhood and queerness" ―Pagina/12
"With a touch of whimsy, ‘The Adventures of China Iron’ rewrites a historical narrative and renders spaces inclusive." ―Daily Star
"Best Books of 2017" ―Los inRockuptibles
"20 Best Latin American books 2017" ―El País
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Praise for Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
Silverio Cañada Memorial Prize (Shortlist)
"Queer writing at its most exhilarating." ―The Times Literary Supplement
"Cámara’s breakout tale is mind-blowingly good." ―Publishers Weekly, starred review
"A revelation for contemporary literature."" ―Andrés Neuman , author of TRAVELLER OF THE CENTURY and TALKING TO OURSELVES
Globetrotting: Your sneak preview of books in translation ―New York Times
"Cámara has a powerful voice, one to be taken seriously." ―Library Journal
"Cabezón Cámara’s exuberant range of styles truly shines." ―Asymptote
"Book of the Year 2009." ―Rolling Stone (Argentina)
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About the Author
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara was born in Buenos Aires in 1968. Her debut novel La virgen cabeza (published in English as Slum Virgin by Charco Press, 2017) was followed by Romance de la negra rubia (Romance of the Black Blonde, 2014) as well as by two collections of short stories. In 2011 she published the novella Le viste la cara a Dios (You’ve Seen God’s Face), later republished as a graphic novel, Beya (Biutiful), illustrated by Iñaki Echeverría. Beya was awarded the Argentine Senate’s Alfredo Palacios Prize and was recognised by the Buenos Aires City Council and the Congress of Buenos Aires Province for its social and cultural significance as well as for its contribution in the fight against human trafficking. During 2013, she was writer-in-residence at UC Berkeley, and in 2019 she was part of the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin.
Iona Macintyre is a Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Iona’s teaching and research has focused on nineteenth-century Spanish American history and culture. Within this area she works primarily on Argentina, history of the book, translation studies, gender studies and transatlantic relations. She has also published on the contemporary fiction of Jorge Accame.
