Empty Set

Gerber Bicecci's novel, recommended to us by Valeria Luiselli, is the latest in our Latin American translation program and another collaboration with Christina MacSweeney. The author is also a visual artist and the novel is built around her original, Thurber-esque illustrations and diagrams, which tweak the narrative, giving it both depth and buoyancy. Like The Story of My Teeth, Empty Set is a playful novel which uses a conceit (in this case, diagramming relationships) to take on ideas. Here: absence, the disappeared, and the physics of time. The appeal of Zambra's Multiple Choice, backed with a story that unfolds in loops and hopscotches, but remains immediate, trackable, and charmingly nostalgic. Empty Set will have patterned end-papers, echoing the drawings inside, and signaling the charm of this little novel.