I have been interested in reading Silvia Moreno Garcia for a few years. Her Amazon Original was an opportunity to dip my toes into her library. I can mark another passport stamp as she is from Mexico, and the story is set in a mysterious village.
CBR15 Passport Challenge: Books from different countries (book 3 of 3)
SPOILERS AHEAD!
We meet Judith in “The Lover”. She lives in a small village and makes a wish to bring her lover to her. Soon, a hunter named Nathaniel arrives. She thinks her wish has come true. He is kind to her and sends smiles her way. Much to her disappointment, he marries her widowed sister. Judith is the younger sister forced to do the washing and errands. Meanwhile, her sister gets by on her looks. She likes to escape to an empty hut in the forest to read and be alone. One day, she attempts to buy a bawdy book at the market but is refused. A vagrant appears who says he’d get it for her. She reluctantly agrees and is given the book in exchange for a kiss. Nathaniel gets jealous and confronts her, but soon they end up kissing. They keep up an affair while Judith continues to have strange encounters with the vagrant. The mysterious man talks of demons and says he is a werewolf. There is a giant wolf known to be lurking that Nathaniel can’t catch. Eventually, the two men meet, but not as I expected.
“The windows were frosted a ghostly white, and she approached the glass, tracing the glass with her fingers. Outside she could see nothing. Not the stars, not the trees, just the ghastly snow.”
The story is a mix of horror, a dark gothic fairy tale, and historical fiction. I liked the hints at horror and the vagrant alluding to magic and demons. You never quite know if he is a liar or not…that is until the ending. I loved the lyrical language in the short story. I can see why Silvia Moreno Garcia is so popular. If you’re a fan of the Grimms’ fairy tales and wolf tales, I recommend this as a quick read.