Argentinian cartoonist Sole Otero made her English language debut last year with the much-lauded Mothballs, and now she’s back with another book in English, this fall’s Witchcraft.
Set in her native Argentina, this one is a horror-tinged mystery about witches, told through the eyes of people who have encountered them. And today, The Beat is lucky enough to have an exclusive excerpt to share from the book’s publisher, Fantagraphics. And while you won’t see much witchcraft in these preview pages, you’ll definitely get a great idea of this book’s fun aesthetic and clever tone.
Here’s a description right from the publisher:
“Three mysterious sisters, dancing at the knife’s edge of benevolent and malevolent, lie at the heart of Witchcraft — a maelstrom swirling together horror and comedy, magic and religion, colonialism and indigenous folklore.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1768. It is a dark and foreboding night when the boat arrives from Europe, bringing three shadowy figures to shore. The María sisters have come to take the New World by storm. At once righteous and menacing, the sisters will exert their insidious powers over generations, leaving a wreckage of shattered spirits in their wake.
Told through the eyes of the people whose lives the sisters have cast asunder, Witchcraft is a mesmerizing mystery to piece together. Strange magic, dark humor, and a fiery undercurrent of female rage cohere into a heady tale of colonialism, indigenous folklore, and modern agoraphobia. A kaleidoscopic work of literary fiction, crafted with vision and verve, that assures Sole Otero as one of South America’s most dynamic cartoonists.”
And you can check out The Beat’s exclusive excerpt below…
