Review: In the Wolf’s Mouth by Elvira Lindo

Review of the book “In the Wolf’s Mouth” by Elvira Lindo.
By Paqui Bernal.

Chance has it that I read two books by Elvira Lindo in a row, one for pleasure and the other, “In the Mouth of the Wolf,” for a reading club. I haven’t gotten tired of it at all. Elvira Lindo has a way of writing that makes you feel at home, whether she talks about her parents – as in “A corazón Abierto” – or explains the relationship of an eleven-year-old girl with her single mother.
That is what “In the Mouth of the Wolf” is about, Julieta’s feeling that she is superfluous in the life of her mother, Guillermina. And the author describes this very well because she knows the soul of children. It is not in vain that she has dedicated a large part of her work to child protagonists such as Manolito Gafotas.
And the fact is that Elvira Lindo’s voice is not always comical or ironic, as in Manolito Gafotas. Here she describes very seriously the suffering of a girl who has suicidal thoughts and ends up self-harming. It is probably this last thing that has been difficult for me when reading the novel, but it is treated in a very delicate way, not at all violent.

On the other hand, the author creates secondary characters in detail, such as Virtuditas, a terrible girl who adds a touch of humor to the story. Above all, there is a character in the text that is very difficult to resist, a kind of outlaw, a wild woman who lives alone in the mountains, Emma, ​​who dazzles the protagonist herself.

Emma acts as Juliet’s mentor, warning her against the superstitions and gossip of the townspeople – often with impertinent provocations. However, with these same older people, Juliet establishes a relationship that compensates for the bad relationship she has with her mother, and that makes us think that both Emma and the town’s elders have lights and shadows, that no one is better than another.

And of course Elvira Lindo knows how to leave questions that keep us alert, about possible relationships between the mother or Emma with people who are not revealed, etc.
“In the Mouth of the Wolf” is a good novel, with short scenes that can be read in one go. And a good portrait of the rural world in a Valencian region, lived in step with time, of summer as a paradise that will inevitably become a lost paradise. Be encouraged to read this novel.