Where to Start with Agustina Bazterrica
Agustina Bazterrica has captured the global literary imagination with her unflinching, visceral approach to dystopian horror and social commentary. Because all of her books are standalones rather than interconnected series, you can technically read them in any order you choose. However, for the ultimate experience of her style and evolution as an author, we recommend starting with her breakout masterpiece.
The Recommended Reading Path:
- Start here: Tender Is the Flesh (2017 / English translation 2020). This is the book that made Bazterrica a household name in modern horror. Its devastating look at legalized human farming is the perfect introduction to her sparse, intense prose and heavy social critique.
- Next: The Unworthy (2023 / English translation 2025). This novel expands on the themes of religious fanaticism, systemic control, and survival in a post-apocalyptic world. It offers a slightly different, cult-focused flavor of dystopian nightmare.
- Then: Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird (2020 / English translation 2023). Once you have a handle on her novel-length work, dive into this collection of short stories to see her flex her muscles in flash-fiction and bite-sized surreal horror.
- For Spanish Readers: Matar a la niña (2013). Her debut novel remains untranslated in English but is highly recommended for bilingual readers looking to trace her early experimental roots.
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
Bazterrica's novels have distinct original Spanish release dates in Argentina and subsequent English translation releases (translated brilliantly by Sarah Moses). Here is the publication order of her novels based on their original Spanish releases:
Matar a la niña (2013)
Bazterrica's debut novel is a dark, surreal, and absurdist fantasy. Set in a decadent, highly bureaucratic version of heaven, the story follows an angel (who is actually an art critic forced to play the part) who plans to assassinate a "holy girl" whose whims sustain this bizarre realm. The novel uses pitch-black humor and theological satire to critique religious hierarchies, prefiguring the feminist and anti-establishment themes of her later works. Note that as of now, no official English translation has been published.
Tender Is the Flesh / Cadáver exquisito (2017)
Originally published as Cadáver exquisito, this novel won Argentina's prestigious Clarín Novel Prize in 2017 before its English release in 2020. The plot takes place in a world where a sudden virus renders all animal meat toxic to humans. In response, governments transition to the legalization of "special meat"—human beings bred, farmed, and processed for consumption. The protagonist, Marcos Tejo, works at a processing plant and receives a live human female as a gift, sparking a silent, high-stakes conflict within his numbed conscience. It is a brutal exploration of language, dehumanization, and capitalism.
The Unworthy / Las indignas (2023)
Originally published as Las indignas in Spanish and translated into English in 2025, this novel presents a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by environmental collapse. Survivors are subjected to extreme violence in the outer wastes, while inside the "House of the Sacred Sisterhood" cult, a strict female hierarchy governs the lives of the survivors. The narrator, classified as one of the lower-caste "unworthy," secretly records the ritualistic abuses, mutilations, and blind worship of the cult's invisible leadership. The book is a harrowing, feminist examination of how religious extremism and systemic oppression thrive on fear and isolation.
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
Bazterrica is also a celebrated short story writer, utilizing brevity to deliver sudden, sharp narrative shocks. Here is the order of her collections:
Antes del encuentro feroz (2016)
This early collection introduced readers to Bazterrica's affinity for the macabre. The stories explore the violence bubbling just beneath the surface of domestic, everyday life. While this specific volume is difficult to find, it served as the core foundation for her later expanded compilation.
Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird / Diecinueve garras y un pájaro oscuro (2020)
Expanding and revising her earlier short fiction, this collection contains 20 stories (despite the number in the title) translated into English in 2023. These dark tales focus on bizarre obsessions, toxic relationships, and physical transformations. Highlights include "Roberto," in which a young girl claims a rabbit is growing between her legs, and "Candy Pink," a story structured entirely as instructions for executing a toxic breakup. The collection showcases Bazterrica's versatility and absurdist humor.
What to Know Before You Start
Bazterrica's fiction is intensely graphic and thematic. Before diving in, readers should prepare for the following aspects of her writing:
- Extreme Visceral Imagery: Bazterrica does not shy away from blood, gore, and clinical descriptions of violence. If you have a sensitive stomach, particularly regarding animal cruelty or bodily mutilation, proceed with caution.
- Feminist and Political Themes: Her work is deeply rooted in contemporary social issues, including animal rights (she is a vegetarian), the exploitation of bodies under capitalism, and the patriarchal control of women's autonomy.
- The Role of Translation: Sarah Moses translated Tender Is the Flesh, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, and The Unworthy into English. Her translations are widely praised for preserving the cold, detached, yet poetic tone of the original Spanish prose.
- Literary Context: Fans of Latin American gothic and speculative fiction—such as Mariana Enríquez, Samanta Schweblin, and Mónica Ojeda—will find similar themes of dread, surrealism, and societal decay in Bazterrica's bibliography.