Horses in the dark

Rafael Gallo, one of the most powerful writers in contemporary Brazilian literature, winner of the José Saramago Prize (2022), the São Paulo Literature Prize (2016) and the Sesc Literature Prize (2012), returns to his literary genre of origin with the book of unpublished short stories Cavalos no escuro .

Born and raised on the farm, the son of Fortunato's former caretakers, Pedro spent his life in complete and blind devotion to his employer and to working with the animals. However, some time into his marriage to Joana, his peaceful dedication to his duties on the property was shattered by the desperate and constant neighing of the horses in the stable, where the woman and her employer spent time alone every night, "tending" to the animals. Unsettling, "Horses in the Dark" is the gateway to what awaits us in the other nine stories in this work, all as profound and biting as the first, which gives the book its title.

"False Bottom," "Fallen Angel," "The Risk in the Water," and "Cloud Factory," for example, explore the depth of human relationships, the world within and outside of us, showing that everything we own affects others, and, above all, that much of what we say and do is tainted with hypocrisy. In other stories, we are reintroduced to the anguish of living in search of one's own identity: "Sometimes, it seems like we're born far from ourselves, and we have to travel a long distance to reach our Self," says the character in "Transshipment Diary #99."

What all the narratives in Horses in the Dark have in common are striking characters, shrouded in their own blindness, shortcomings and compulsions, obsessions and difficulties. Rafael Gallo's ability to structure electrifying prose from beginning to end has been widely praised throughout his career. Nélida Piñon wrote that the author is "an heir to the doors of imagination that Homer opened." And Adriana Lisboa asserts, in the blurb for this Horses in the Dark : "Rafael Gallo is a master at constructing these unforgettable characters, who remain with us long after the book is finished."