Cathedrals

by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle

Lia fled her home after a brutal crime decades ago, but family, and the truth, will never let you go.Thirty years ago, in an empty plot of a quiet neighbourhood, a teenage girl’s body was found quartered and burned. The investigation ended with no arrests and her family – middle class, educated, Catholic – quietly disintegrated. Three decades later, the hidden truth comes to light thanks to the father’s enduring love for the victim. That truth will reveal the raw realities lurking behind appearances, the cruelty of those who prioritize obedience and religious fanaticism, the complicity of the fearful and the indifferent, and the loneliness and desperation of those who seek to follow their own path, ignoring the dictates of their elders.Just as she did with Elena Knows and A Little Luck , Claudia Piñeiro delves into family ties, social prejudice, and the ideologies and institutions that affect our inner worlds to deliver a brave, moving novel that strikes at the heart of these private dramas.

Reviews of Cathedrals

'Family ties, social prejudice, institutions and defiance of authority are just some of the themes Claudia Piñeiro addresses so masterfully.' – Pagina/12

'Cathedrals challenges us as a society. It obliges us to stop and think. The text demands that we discard our indifference.' – Infobae

'The plot is kept taut by its silences (…) The ever skilful Piñeiro appears to have invented a unique genre, the family crime novel, where everything stays in the home.' – La Nación

'A harrowing book that casts a revelatory light on the uncomfortable truth about clandestine abortions in Argentina.' – El Mundo