Tarantula

An extraordinary book. What begins as a shocking story reveals itself as a sidelong, mysterious meditation on trauma, vengeance and the terrible capacity of the past to shape the present – Olivia LaingAudacious… Halfon’s primary concern seems to be to rappel as deeply as possible into those crevasses where meaning and truth disappear… A short, dense puzzle of a book * Observer *Incisive, troubling, provocative * Times Literary Supplement *This novel about a violent and traumatic childhood episode is eerily current – the questions it raises about identity, resistance and history are both deeply personal and universal – Mariana EnriquezImpressionistic, very well-realised… We get a real sense of why, for [some] people, the Holocaust did not instil a feeling of compassion for the wretched of the Earth and instead created a determination that such degradation would never again be visited upon Jewish people. But at what cost? * Irish Times *Resonant, dreamlike, disturbing… It’s a breath of fresh air * Publishers Weekly *Chilling. A story set in the Guatemalan jungle that resonates in Gaza, in Donbas, anywhere victims end up resembling their own executioners – Santiago RoncaglioloOne of the great global writers of his generation * Service95, ‘The 21 Must-Read Books To Have On Your Radar In 2026’ *This taut, magisterial novel explores the possibility of disentangling one’s trauma and one’s roots * Le Monde des Livres (France) *Darkly unsettling but highly readable… [A] powerful autobiographical novel reflecting on the traumas of the Holocaust while raising the question of whether they are beyond the scope of fiction… Halfon moves with ease through past and present, refusing to traffic in suffering… A leading voice in Latin American fiction * Kirkus (starred review) *

Eduardo Halfon (Author)

Eduardo Halfon is one of the great global writers of his generation. He is the author of fifteen novels examining questions of identity, memory and history as a Jewish man, as a Guatemalan, as a descendant of European and Middle Eastern refugees, including The Polish Boxer, Mourning, and Canci n. He has received international literary awards including the Prix Medicis tranger, the Prix Roger Caillois and the Prix du Meilleur Livre tranger in France, the Premio de la Critica and the Premio Jose Maria de Pereda in Spain, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and the International Latino Book Award in the US, and the National Prize in Literature of Guatemala, his country’s highest literary honour. Eduardo Halfon was named one of the thirty-nine most promising young Latin American writers by the Hay Festival in Bogota and is a Fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation. His work has been translated into sixteen languages. Tarantula is his latest novel.

Daniel Hahn (Translator)

Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and literary translator. He translates from Portuguese, Spanish and French and has translated literature from Europe, Africa and the Americas, including the work of Jose Eduardo Agualusa, Philippe Claudel, Maria Duenas, Eduardo Halfon, Jose Luis Peixoto, Jose Saramago and Gon alo M. Tavares. His translations have won literary awards including the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award, and been shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and the LA Times Book Award. He is also the author of several works of non-fiction, including The Tower Menagerie and the forthcoming If This Be Magic, and the award-winning children’s picture-book Happiness is a Watermelon on Your Head, and is co-editor of ‘The Ultimate Book Guide’ series. He reviews for publications including the Guardian, Spectator and Prospect, and is former Chair of the Translators Association and the Society of Authors and former National Programme Director of the British Centre for Literary Translation.