Synopsis "Jawbone "

Finalist for the 2022 National Book Award in Translated Literature! "Was desire something like being possessed by a nightmare?" Fernanda and Annelise are so close they are practically sisters: a double image, inseparable. So how does Fernanda end up bound on the floor of a deserted cabin, held hostage by one of her teachers and estranged from Annelise? When Fernanda, Annelise, and their friends from the Delta Bilingual Academy convene after school, Annelise leads them in thrilling but increasingly dangerous rituals to a rhinestoned, Dior-scented, drag-queen god of her own invention. Even more perilous is the secret Annelise and Fernanda share, rooted in a dare in which violence meets love. Meanwhile, their literature teacher Miss Clara, who is obsessed with imitating her dead mother, struggles to preserve her deteriorating sanity. Each day she edges nearer to a total break with reality. Interweaving pop culture references and horror concepts drawn from from Herman Melville, H. P. Lovecraft, and anonymous "creepypastas," Jawbone is an ominous, multivocal novel that explores the terror inherent in the pure potentiality of adolescence and the fine line between desire and fear.

Mónica Ojeda

(Author)

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Mónica Ojeada Franco was born on May 17, 1988 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. From an early age, she showed an unusual interest in literature and the exploration of complex and taboo subjects, which would later become the hallmark of her work. She studied Social Communication with a mention in Literature at the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil and obtained a master's degree in Literary Creation and in Theory and Criticism of Culture from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.

Ojeada is recognized for her bold approach to themes such as fear, pain, sexuality, gender violence, and the relationship between the feminine and the monstrous. Her narrative, classified within the "new Latin American Gothic," stands out for its poetic and disturbing prose that explores the limits of human experience and the psychology of her characters. She has also been compared to authors like Mariana Enríquez and is considered one of the most influential voices in contemporary Latin American literature.

Among her most influential works are "La desfiguración Silva (2014), Nefando (2016), Mandíbula (2018) or Las voladoras (2020)."

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