PR copy provided by the publisher!

I have found myself reading a few this year, Mona included, and I’m never sure how much I am actually getting from them…

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Mona is a sharp and satirical look at the world of academia and writers, set at a prize-giving ceremony for a literary award in Sweden. The main character Mona is one of the only Latinx authors in attendance, something she also grapples with at work at Stanford uni, as her department holds her up as a woman author of colour, uses her to demonstrate how diverse and progressive their department is.

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Mona will be a hit for anyone who loves an unlikeable and unreliable narrator. I loved the parts where Mona is on her own, but found the interactions with the other writers at the ceremony less enjoyable - probably because I’m not very good at ‘getting’ satire as mentioned above!

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The ending though - absolutely jaw-dropping imagery! A trigger warning for sexual and physical assault here, but the last 10 pages I read feverishly.

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Translated from the Spanish by Adam Morris.