What the Forest Devours

'Shocking… violence, motherhood and death in the jungle' Mariana Enríquez, author of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed

Benedicta has given birth, over and over. But she will never be a mother.



Benedicta lives with her mother, her sister and her many children on a hacienda surrounded by dense rainforest.


The jungle is a hungry god: it allows them to live safely away from a ruthless world of guerrillas and drug traffickers, but at a terrible price. Its voracity is never-ending, and those who live under its control must offer up their children in a sacrificial cycle powered by blood and madness.


One day Romina, a pregnant sex worker from the nearest town, emerges from the rainforest. Will she be the one to break the cycle?


Brutal, powerful and deeply unsettling, this Caribbean gothic fable about motherhood and the female body is a truly unique and unforgettable novel, from a writer at the peak of her powers.

Translated by: Kevin Gerry Dunn