The Scent of Buenos Aires: Stories — Hebe Uhart

Longlisted for the PEN Translation Prize

From one of Argentina's greatest contemporary storytellers, this collection gathers twenty-five of her most remarkable and incandescent short stories in English for the first time

The Scent of Buenos Aires offers the first book-length English translation of Uhart's work, drawing together her best vignettes of quotidian life: moments at the zoo, the hair salon, or a cacophonous homeowners association meeting. She writes in unconventional, understated syntax, constructing a delightfully specific perspective on life in South America. These stories are marked by sharp humor and wit: discreet and subtle -- yet filled with eccentric and insightful characters. Uhart's narrators pose endearing questions about their lives and environments -- one asks “Bees -- do you know how industrious they are?” while another inquires, “Are we perhaps going to hell in a hand basket?”

“Uhart's stories are concise and filled with both dry and conversational wit and flashes of poignant insight . . . slice-of-life writer . . . ”  -- Thrillist