Thus Were Their Faces

Silvina Ocampo · 1903–1993 · Argentina

Originally Thus Were Their Faces (Spanish) · translated by Daniel Balderston

Why it matters

Uncanny tales of malevolent children and casual cruelty, the domestic world tilted until it turns monstrous. Ocampo is the darkest and most original of the Argentine fantastists, long overshadowed by Borges and Bioy.

At a glance

Unsettling, elliptical stories withhold explanation for their uncanny events.