Best of the Best Book Club: “Seven Empty Houses” by Samanta Schweblin

The Coronado Public Library’s Best of the Best Book Club meets regularly on the fourth Wednesday of each month to discuss books that have won major awards.

For our July meeting, we will read and discuss the winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Translated Literature, Seven Empty Houses by Samanta Schweblin, a deft collection of seven stories that carries the reader in and out of the fragility of the mind, the spirit, and the body

About Seven Empty Houses

The seven houses in these seven stories are strange. A person is missing, or a truth, or memory; some rooms are enticing, some unmoored, others empty. But in Samanta Schweblin’s tense, visionary tales, something always creeps back inside: a ghost, a fight, trespassers, a list of things to do before you die, a child’s first encounter with darkness or the fallibility of parents.

In each story, twists and turns will unnerve and surprise: Schweblin never takes the expected path and instead digs under the skin, revealing surreal truths about our sense of home, of belonging, and of the fragility of our connections with others. This is a masterwork from one of our most brilliant modern writers.