By Coral Gables Gazette staff
The Books & Books Literary Foundation will host acclaimed Argentine author Agustina Bazterrica on Thursday, September 11, at 7 p.m. at its Coral Gables flagship store (265 Aragon Avenue). The event is free and open to the public, with RSVPs recommended. Seating is first come, first served.
Bazterrica will present her newest novel, The Unworthy (Scribner, $18.99), in conversation with Miami attorney and cultural leader Liz Coppolecchia. For South Florida readers, it is a rare opportunity to hear directly from an author whose work has reshaped the boundaries of contemporary horror fiction.
A Story written in blood and ash
The Unworthy is set in a world undone by climate disaster. From within a convent belonging to a militant religious order, a woman known only as one of the “unworthy” records her memories on scraps of paper, in dirt, and even with her own blood. Her existence is tightly controlled by the Sacred Sisterhood, where punishment maintains order and safety comes at the price of freedom.
When a stranger breaches the convent walls and joins the lowest ranks of the order, the narrator is forced to confront her own past and the unsettling truths about the Enlightened, the superior class she aspires to join. The story raises searing questions: What does survival mean in a collapsing world? How seductive is obedience when it provides protection? And what costs are demanded when ideology becomes absolute?
Critics have described the novel as uncompromising and unforgettable. The New York Times praised its “brilliant, chilling” prose, while The Atlantic noted its “cinematically gruesome” imagery. Publishers Weekly highlighted the beauty and brutality of Sarah Moses’s translation, comparing its lyricism to the stark intensity of Cormac McCarthy.
Building on global success
Bazterrica rose to international prominence with Tender Is the Flesh, her novel about a society that normalizes cannibalism. First published in Spanish in 2017, it became a global bestseller with translations into more than 30 languages and over half a million copies sold in English alone. That book earned her the Clarín Novel Prize and is now being adapted for television.
Her short story collection Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird further established her as a master of gothic and speculative forms. With The Unworthy, originally published in Spanish in 2023, she continues exploring the violence embedded in systems of power, while layering in urgent themes of ecological collapse and extremist ideology.
The art of translation
Much of Bazterrica’s reach in the English-speaking world is owed to her longtime translator, Sarah Moses, a Canadian writer who has collaborated with her on three books. Moses’s work has been widely praised for capturing the intensity of Bazterrica’s voice while making it resonate with international audiences. Her translation of The Unworthy underscores the novel’s dual nature: visceral horror told in language that is at once lyrical and precise.
A local voice in the discussion
Joining Bazterrica on stage is Liz Coppolecchia, a Miami native who balances a legal career with deep involvement in the arts community. She currently serves as vice chair of the Brickell Literary Society and has held leadership positions with the Arts and Business Council, Perez Art Museum Miami, and the Bakehouse Art Complex. Her perspective will help frame the discussion in a South Florida context, where climate concerns and cultural expression intersect daily.
A global conversation rooted in Coral Gables
Bazterrica’s appearance in Coral Gables illustrates the ongoing role of Books & Books as more than a bookstore. For decades, it has served as a convener of global conversations in South Florida, hosting authors whose work speaks to urgent issues of politics, environment, and culture. In this case, the connections are direct. Miami, like the submerged cities described in The Unworthy, faces its own vulnerabilities to rising seas and extreme weather. The novel’s warnings about survival under collapse resonate powerfully in a community already on the climate front lines.
For readers drawn to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Paul Tremblay’s psychological horror, Bazterrica’s new novel offers both kinship and challenge. It is fiction that insists on discomfort, demanding readers face the violence in systems they might otherwise accept.
