Fate - Paperback

by Jorge Consiglio (Author), Carolina Orloff (Translator), Fionn Petch (Translator)

This novel focuses on a group of characters who are all in different ways endeavouring to take control of their fate. Their desire to lead a genuine existence forces them to confront difficult decisions, and to break out of comfortable routines.Karl and Marina have been together for ten years and have a young son, Simón. Karl is a German-born oboist at Argentina's national orchestra, and Marina is a meteorologist. On a field trip, she meets fellow researcher Zárate, and what might have been just a fling starts to erode the foundations of her marriage. Then there is Amer, a dynamic and successful taxidermist. At a group therapy session for smokers, Amer falls for the younger Clara. While the relationship between Karl and Marina disintegrates, the love story between Amer and Clara is just beginning - or is it already at an end? One of Argentina's leading contemporary writers, Jorge Consiglio portrays the inner worlds of these characters through the minute details of their everyday lives, laying bare their strivings and their frustrations with a wry gaze, and seeking in this close-up texture a deeper truth.

Author Biography

Jorge Consiglio was born in Buenos Aires in 1962. He has published several novels including: El bien (2003; Award for Emerging Writers, Opera Prima, Spain), Gramática de la sombra (2007; Third Municipal Prize for Novels), Pequeñas intenciones (2011; Second National Prize for Novels, First Municipal Prize for Novels), Hospital Posadas (2015), Tres Monedas (2018), published by Charco Press as Fate (2020), and Sodio (2021). He has also published three collections of short stories, including Villa del Parque (2016), published by Charco as Southerly (2018), five books of poems and a book of essays.

Originally from Buenos Aires and now based in Edinburgh, Carolina Orloff is an experienced translator and researcher in Latin American literature. In 2016, Carolina co-founded Charco Press, where she acts as Publishing Director and Chief Editor. She is also the co-translator of Ariana Harwicz's novels Die, My Love, Feebleminded and Tender, and of Jorge Consiglio's Fate .

Fionn Petch is a Scottish-born translator working from Spanish, Italian and French into English. He lived in Mexico City for 12 years, where he completed a PhD in Philosophy at the UNAM. His translations of Latin American literature for Charco Press have been widely acclaimed. Fireflies by Luis Sagasti was shortlisted for the Translators' Association First Translation Award 2018. The Distance Between Us by Renato Cisneros received an English PEN Award in 2018. A Musical Offering, also by Luis Sagasti, was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2021 and won the Society of Authors Premio Valle Inclán 2021 for best translation from Spanish. He now lives in Berlin.