In Heat: A Novel

Summary

An anxious young woman rediscovers her humanity through a strange yet life-changing bond with a stray dog in this frenetic, bold, and startlingly tender novel from one of Spain's most gifted young writers.

On the night she first encounters the Bitch, the Human is high. In her altered state, she lets the Bitch follow her home. She soon finds herself living with an animal who appears to be gathering strength while her own condition swiftly deteriorates.

When the Bitch goes into heat, the Human can't relate. The Human is thirty-two but no longer feels sexual desire. She exists in the world but is not living. Back in the city after fleeing from her ex-boyfriend and their life in the countryside, the Human begins to suffer from a mysterious illness—experiencing tremors and bruises with no apparent cause. One day, she bends to tie her shoe and realizes she cannot do it. The Human is terrified that a curse has been placed on her. Her psychiatrist refuses to prescribe more anti-anxiety medication unless she agrees to attend group therapy, and that’s where she meets Mecha, a fascinating woman who, like the Bitch, might be harder to rescue than the Human thinks.

A critical success when it was originally published in Spain, In Heat marks the English debut of Sabina Urraca, one of the most exciting writers working today. Raw, funny, and deeply affecting, In Heat is a bitingly original examination of the animality of desire, fear as inheritance, and the power of stories.

Translated from the Spanish by Allana Lieberman