Four by Four

The children who attend Wybrany College are either wealthy, or somehow special. The cloistered school appears to be a safe haven from the chaos which overwhelms the city outside – but the college has its own agenda, and something wicked lurks just beneath the surface. A majestic piece of Gothic literature, Four by Four is a novel in two parts: the first, a portrait of an eerie, ill-omened institution, with a cryptic set of power structures; in the second, a substitute teacher keeps a diary, unearthing the school’s mysteries even as he tries to hide his own secrets.

Runner-up for The Premio Herralde 2012

‘Sara Mesa’s writing is mysterious and fascinating: her characters brush against the limits in environments of fierce false calm. Un Amor is one of her best novels – tense and beautiful like a crouching bird.’
– Mariana Enríquez

‘When I read Sara Mesa, I’m there in the Wild West, sifting through the sand. There is a restless enjoyment, an inhospitable beauty, in my sieve. And then something miraculous when gold appears before my eyes.’
– Eva Baltasar

‘Sara Mesa sees the world through the lens of power, exploring how questions of strength and weakness shape human behaviour.’
– Annie McDermott, The TLS

Sara Mesa is the author of eight works of fiction, including Un Amor (Selected as the ‘Best Book of 2020’ by El País, La Vanguardia, El Cultural and El Correo, and now a feature film), Scar (winner of the Ojo Critico Prize), Four by Four (a finalist for the Herralde Prize), An Invisible Fire (winner of the Premio Málaga de Novela), Among the Hedges, and La Familia. Her work has been translated into eighteen languages, and she has been widely praised for her concise, sharp writing style. Her novel Un Amor was published by Peirene Press in 2024.

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