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Unfortunately, some works are not always faithfully translated. So, if you’re fluent in Spanish, we can only recommend that you buy the original version to fully appreciate the author’s work.
Presentation of the work
Original title (ES) : La Perra
The Bitch, published in 2017 by Pilar Quintana, is a short novel of gripping intensity, set on Colombia’s Pacific coast. The story follows Damaris, a woman living in an isolated region marked by poverty, stifling heat and omnipresent nature. Unable to have a child of her own, she adopts a dog and raises her as a daughter, projecting her frustrations, desires and intimate wounds onto her. Gradually, this fused relationship cracks, revealing a deep loneliness and muted violence. The novel tackles powerful themes such as motherhood, the female body, abandonment and social marginalization. Pilar Quintana’s stripped-down, straightforward writing describes, without judgment, the harshness of everyday life and the inner tensions of her character. The Bitch is a short but powerful text that leaves a lasting impression through its accuracy and raw realism.
Welcoming the press and public
On its release, The Bitch was widely acclaimed by literary critics in Colombia and abroad. The specialist press has praised the story’s power, its minimalist writing and the way Pilar Quintana manages to evoke complex subjects without pathos or moral discourse. The novel won the Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana prize, confirming its place among the outstanding works of contemporary literature. Some readers were taken aback by the apparent coldness of the text and the psychological violence it exudes, but it is precisely this aspect that was hailed by others as a great literary strength. As far as the public is concerned, the book reached a readership sensitive to intimate stories and realistic female portraits. Today, The Bitch is often cited as a short but essential novel for understanding some of the social and emotional realities of rural Colombia.
The author
Pilar Quintana, born in 1972 in Cali, is a Colombian writer renowned for her stories centered on the margins, women and territories often under-represented in literature. She is particularly interested in the Colombian Pacific coast, a region she knows well and describes with striking realism. His writing is characterized by great sobriety, leaving plenty of room for silences, gestures and unspoken emotions. In addition to The Bitch, she has published several novels and collections of short stories, exploring themes such as solitude, social violence and power relationships. In 2021, she won the prestigious Premio Alfaguara for Los abismos, confirming her importance on the Latin American literary scene. Pilar Quintana is now considered one of the strongest and most singular female voices in contemporary Colombian literature.
