''I urge you to read Alana S. Portero''s Bad Habit'' PEDRO ALMODVAR '' Obliges the reader to hold back (or unleash) their feelings chapter after chapter '' VOGUE SPAIN The most talked-about debut of the year '' TIME OUT SPAIN Told in an irresistible, heartrending voice, Bad Habit takes us deep into the lives of the residents of a godforsaken Madrid neighbourhood ironically named after a holy saint. An unnamed young trans woman grows up in a working class suburb that has no place for her. She discovers community and kinship in downtown Madrid, amid a lively party scene animated by junkies, pop divas, and fallen angels. But with each step she takes forward, she finds herself confronted by a violence she does not yet know how to counter; in this thrilling and yet often terrifying world each choice can truly be a matter of life and death. Blistering and compassionate, Bad Habit by Alana S Portero is translated by Mara Faye Lethem, and deftly illuminates the ties between gender and class, the search for identity, and the power of sisterhood. Shimmering in its lyrical beauty and vivid in its realism, Bad Habit is a mesmerising story of self-realisation that speaks to the outsider in all of us. '' The prose acquires the weight of poetry '' EL PAIS '' A splendid novel ... an author with an extraordinary command of language, with an exquisite style, capable of portraying, with critical but never cynical eye'' EL MUNDO '' Brutal and beautiful, unique and necessary. '' MAR GARCIA PUIG ''It''s fiction like this that stitches wounds history has been unable to , as well as righting wrongs life couldn''t'' El Periodico ...

Autorentext

Alana S. Portero, Translated by Mara Faye Lethem

Klappentext

**'I urge you to read *Bad Habit'***PEDRO ALMODÓVAR

**'Had me hooked from the first page ... Savour every word'**DUA LIPA

**'The book that everyone is reading'**NEW YORK TIMES

**'Sublime'**ÉDOUARD LOUIS

A SERVICE95 BOOK CLUB PICK

Beautifully written and told in an irresistible voice, Bad Habit is a powerfully moving coming-of-age novel following a young trans woman in 1980s Madrid.

An unnamed young trans woman grows up in a working-class suburb that has no place for her. She discovers community and kinship in downtown Madrid, amid a dazzling party scene animated by charming junkies, glamorous pop divas, and fallen angels. With each step she takes forward in the city, she finds herself confronted by an antagonism she does not yet know how to counter. In this thrilling and yet often frightening place each decision can have the highest of stakes and yet she knows that only she can forge a path forward to the life she truly wants to live.

Beautiful and deeply moving, Bad Habit by Alana S Portero is translated by Mara Faye Lethem, and deftly illuminates the search for identity and the power of chosen family. Bad Habit is an unforgettable story of self-realisation that speaks to the outsider in all of us.

**'A work of deep humility'**GUARDIAN

'An engulfing novel' AVNI DOSHI

'Believe the hype!' OKECHUKWU NZELU

'A revelation ... made me weep more than once' SABA SAMS

'Infused with camp humour, pathos and the spirit of resilience' AMELIA ABRAHAMS

**'Affecting and evocative'**OBSERVER

'Painful yet unquestionably hopeful' NICOLA DINAN

'Portero's elegant storytelling catches a celestial light' ELOGHOSA OSUNDE

'Leaves you stunned' TRAVIS ALABANZA

**'Obliges the reader to hold back (or unleash) their feelings chapter after chapter'**VOGUE SPAIN

**'The most talked-about debut of the year'**TIME OUT SPAIN