The Best Books by Mariana Enríquez: The Master of Latin American Gothic Horror
Mariana Enríquez has established herself as one of the most recognized voices in contemporary Latin American literature. Born in Buenos Aires, the writer and journalist explores horror, the Gothic, and the fantastic through lenses shaped by social violence, inequality, the memory of the Argentine dictatorship, popular culture, and everyday life.
Mariana Enríquez’s literature is part of the new Argentine narrative and operates within the horror genre, while incorporating elements of “dirty realism” and the fantastic. Her short stories and novels feature ghosts, abandoned houses, urban legends, transformed bodies, outlying neighborhoods, and supernatural cults, but also rock music, adolescence, poverty, gender-based violence, and the traces left by Argentina’s political history.
Much of her international recognition came with her short story collections and *Nuestra parte de noche*, although her career began much earlier. To choose among Mariana Enríquez’s best books, it’s helpful to distinguish what each phase offers: short stories to get started with her writing, full-length novels for those seeking a long-form narrative, and her early works to understand the origins of several of her narrative obsessions.
What are Mariana Enríquez’s standout works?
Among Mariana Enríquez’s most important books, *Nuestra parte de noche* occupies a central place. Published in 2019, it follows Juan and Gaspar, a father and son who travel across Argentina while trying to escape the fate that a secret society, the Order, has in store for them. The novel combines supernatural rituals, family relationships, class privilege, and political violence during and after the Argentine dictatorship.
The novel won the 2019 Herralde Novel Prize and subsequently the Critics’ Prize in the Fiction category. Its English translation, by Megan McDowell, further broadened its reach: *Our Share of Night* was selected as oneof TIME’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 and among Publishers Weekly’s best science fiction, fantasy, and horror books of that same year. In terms of scope, world-building, and historical reach, it is the clearest choice for anyone looking for Enríquez’s most ambitious novel.
If this is your first time reading this author, there are also shorter paths to explore. *The Things We Lost in the Fire* and *The Dangers of Smoking in Bed* offer a direct introduction to her short stories; *Our Share of Night* works best for those who want to immerse themselves in a full-length novel, while *Going Down Is the Worst* provides a glimpse into the beginning of her career.
*Bajar es lo peor* (1995)
This is Mariana Enríquez’s first novel. She wrote it at age nineteen, and it was published in 1995, when she was twenty-one. Set in the nightlife of 1990s Buenos Aires, it follows Facundo, Narval, and Carolina—three young people bound by desire, drugs, violence, and a constant sense of aimlessness.
Several elements that would later become recurring themes in her writing are already present here: displaced teenagers, nightlife, rock music, vulnerable bodies, and a supernatural presence that never quite separates itself entirely from reality. The edition reissued by Anagrama presents the novel as the starting point for several of Enríquez’s later obsessions, and the author herself has linked her influences from those years to Anne Rice’s *Interview with the Vampire* and Gus Van Sant’s *My Private Idaho*.
Those already familiar with her later short stories will find here the first traces of a literary universe that Enríquez would develop over the following decades. Her second novel, *How to Disappear Completely*, was originally published in 2004 and reissued by Anagrama in 2025, but *Going Down Is the Worst* remains the natural starting point for exploring her early work.
*Éste es el mar* (2017)
*Éste es el mar* moves between horror, rock music, and the mythology built around music stars. The novel explores rites of passage, teenagers obsessed with musicians, and an underworld of supernatural forces that intervene in the creation and destruction of idols.
At the heart of the book lies the relationship between fandom, desire, violence, and celebrity: the publisher’s synopsis describes beings who conspire to bring about the deaths of figures like Kurt Cobain, Sid Vicious, and Jim Morrison and turn them into legends.
Within Enríquez’s body of work, this novel condenses her exploration of rock music and fan culture into a single story. This combination sets it apart from her short story collections and novels such as *Nuestra parte de noche*, especially for readers interested in how a dead star ultimately becomes a myth.
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed (2009)
In *The Dangers of Smoking in Bed*, Enríquez brings together twelve short stories in which the supernatural appears within apartments, neighborhoods, beach resorts, and everyday relationships. There are bones buried in a garden, ghosts, teenagers obsessed with a dead musician, fetishes, illnesses, and various forms of violence.
The book took on a new international dimension with its English translation by Megan McDowell. *The Dangers of Smoking in Bed*, translated by McDowell, was among the six finalists for the 2021 International Booker Prize. That same year, Kazuo Ishiguro selected it as one of his favorite reads of 2021 for*The Guardian* and described Enríquez’s narrative world as his most exciting discovery in fiction in a long time.
The collection allows readers to recognize several of the author’s central themes in a concentrated format: decaying cities, troubled adolescence, bodily obsessions, and supernatural events that appear inextricably linked to social conflicts. For those who prefer short stories, it also brings together one of the phases of her work that has received the most international critical acclaim.
The Things We Lost in the Fire (2016)
The Things We Lost in the Fire brings together twelve stories and was one of the books that propelled Mariana Enríquez’s international recognition. Her stories explore abandoned houses, disappearances, violence against women, poverty, dictatorship, and neighborhoods where the threat may be supernatural or entirely human.
The collection received the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona in the Spanish-language literature category. The jury highlighted the natural flow of her prose, her dark humor, and the way her stories subvert everyday scenarios without resorting to melodrama. This reception, along with its publication in numerous countries, explains the significance this collection continues to hold in Enríquez’s body of work.
This is likely the most balanced way to begin reading the author’s work: the stories stand alone, explore many of the themes later expanded upon in *Nuestra parte de noche*, and offer a gateway into her literature without requiring readers to commit from the start to a novel of over six hundred pages.
A Sunny Place for Somber People (2024)
Published in 2024, *A Sunny Place for Somber People* marked Mariana Enríquez’s return to the short story after *Our Share of the Night*. The volume consists of twelve stories featuring familiar ghosts, neighborhoods haunted by the dead, bodily transformations, vacation homes, and various forms of illness, grief, and violence.
The book confirmed that her short story collections continued to carry weight beyond the Latin American sphere. The English edition, also translated by Megan McDowell, was included by Publishers Weekly among the best fiction books of 2024, with special attention given to bodily horror, generational trauma, ghosts, and the way in which initially realistic settings drift toward increasingly unsettling situations.
The collection showcases how her short-form narrative evolved following the success of *Nuestra parte de noche* without overshadowing the significance of her earlier works. In 2026,*Nunca cruces ese umbral* was also published, an Anagrama volume that brings together three stories by Enríquez accompanied by the visual work of Santiago Caruso. Its short, illustrated format sets it apart from the author’s novels and longer short story collections.
Choosing a single “best” book by Mariana Enríquez depends on what each reader is looking for. *Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego* offers an accessible introduction to her short stories; *Los peligros de fumar en la cama* brings together one of her collections that has received the most international acclaim; and *Nuestra parte de noche* is the choice for those seeking her most ambitious narrative project. *Going Down Is the Worst* allows readers to return to the beginning; *This Is the Sea* focuses on rock music and the mythology of fame; and *A Sunny Place for Somber People* showcases the recent phase of her short-story writing.
