"A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She's not his mother. He's not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family. Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale. One of the freshest new voices to come out of the Spanish language and translated into English for the first time, Samanta Schweblin creates an aura ofstrange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this absorbing, unsettling, taut novel"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

A young woman named Amanda, dying in a rural hospital clinic, and a boy named David tell a fevered tale of menace and family bonds. - (Baker & Taylor)

A first English translation by an award-winning Spanish author follows the nightmarish experiences of a dying woman and a boy beside her hospital bed, who explore the dynamics of broken souls, toxic relationships and the power and desperation of family. - (Baker & Taylor)

"Genius." —Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker

"Samanta Schweblin’s electric story reads like a Fever Dream." —Vanity Fair

Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize!

Experience the blazing, surreal sensation of a fever dream...

A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She’s not his mother. He's not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family.      
 
Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale. One of the freshest new voices to come out of the Spanish language and translated into English for the first time, Samanta Schweblin creates an aura of strange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this absorbing, unsettling, taut novel. - (Penguin Putnam)

Samanta Schweblin was chosen as one of the 22 best writers in Spanish under the age of 35 by Granta. She is the author of three story collections that have won numerous awards, including the prestigious Juan Rulfo Story Prize, and been translated into 20 languages. Fever Dream is her first novel and is longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize. Originally from Buenos Aires, she lives in Berlin.

Megan McDowell has translated books by many contemporary South American and Spanish authors, and her translations have been published in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Paris Review, McSweeney's, Words Without Borders, and Vice, among other publications. She lives in Chile. - (Penguin Putnam)

Booklist Reviews

Schweblin's first novel tells a frenetic, unnerving tale. A young mother, Amanda, is afflicted by a sudden illness and accepts that death is imminent. As she waits in her hospital bed, she hears the hovering voice of a young boy, David, who guides her as she recounts the events leading to her current dire situation. After arriving at a rural vacation home with her daughter, Nina, Amanda strikes up a friendship with their alluring neighbor, Carla, a local who is revealed to be David's mother. Carla shares with Amanda an unusual story about her son and her efforts to save him after he was poisoned. Amanda, at first dubious, becomes increasingly troubled by both mother and son and makes plans to cut their vacation short and return home. But things go awry when Amanda decides to bid Carla farewell. Schweblin's sparse narrative, both familiar and mysterious, quickly grows in intensity as the hazy whispers of self-doubt and death itself descend. A thought-provoking story that provides ample opportunity for readers to grapple with its unanswered questions. Copyright 2016 Booklist Reviews.

Library Journal Reviews

Buenos Aires-born and Berlin-based, Schweblin has won multiple awards for her story collections and been published in anthologies and magazines worldwide. Her debut novel—also her first work to be translated into English—relates the story of a community doubly poisoned by toxic waste and invidious relationships.

Library Journal Reviews

For those who believe that, as Franz Kafka famously said, "a book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us," Schweblin's surreal debut novel will be a breath of fresh air. The Buenos Aires-born, Berlin-based Schweblin was named one of Granta's best writers in Spanish under the age of 35 and has already published three short story collections. This novel is told in conversational fragments between two unseen narrators. One is asking questions, trying to get the other to determine the exact moment she was contaminated. The events they recollect concern Amanda and her daughter, Nina, on holiday in the country, where Amanda first learns from her friend Carla of a mysterious poison that affected Carla's son, David, and the family's horses. The hallucinatory flow of the dialog moves the story along quickly, and readers may have to turn back to find a missing puzzle piece. Those who are willing to stay with this book will find the experience like no other and well worth the effort. VERDICT Readers of Samuel Beckett, Jorge Luis Borges, García Márquez, and other magical realism practitioners will devour this brilliant, unsettling novel. [See Prepub Alert, 7/11/16.]—Kate Gray, Boston P.L., MA