The Adventures of China Iron - Gabriela Cabezon Camara

The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre / ISBN 9781916465664 / 188-page paperback with flaps from Charco Press (Edinburgh) *** Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020 "A thrilling and mystical miniature epic." ―The Guardian 1872. The pampas of Argentina. China is a young woman eking out an existence in a remote gaucho encampment. After her no-good husband is conscripted into the army, China bolts for freedom, setting off on a wagon journey through the pampas in the company of her new-found friend Liz, a settler from Scotland. While Liz provides China with a sentimental education and schools her in the nefarious ways of the British Empire, their eyes are opened to the wonders of Argentina’s richly diverse flora and fauna, cultures and languages, as well as to the ruthless violence involved in nation-building. This subversive retelling of Argentina’s foundational gaucho epic Martín Fierro is a celebration of