Irene, a mother of two, lives a life marked by motherhood, marriage, trauma, and guilt. when she meets Clara, luminous and fragile, an unexpected desire awakens, the nightmares that seemed buried return, and her past is revealed as a latent wound: a story that her body preserves, even though her mind wishes to erase it.

this is a psychological novel about what cannot be washed away no matter how hard we scrub, and about what persists and survives the passage of years, stuck in the darkest corners of our minds.

Karen Padilla, with elegant and precise prose, takes us to explore the darkest nightmares of her protagonist and to experience firsthand the pains and tenderness that inhabit the feminine. with this story, she portrays how the everyday can become disturbing and how wounds that are not named can leave even deeper scars.

• Spanish
• 164 pages
• psychological fiction, contemporary fiction, maternity

Karen Padilla (León, 1992) Born in León, Guanajuato, she is a writer and Gestalt psychotherapist. As a short story writer, she has participated in various anthologies with her stories. she is the author of the book ¿Dónde está Bebé? aimed at mothers who have experienced a pregnancy loss. she was a finalist in the El Arrozal International Literary Contest (2025) with El nacimiento del agua and one of the winners of the National Short Story Contest for Mexican Women Writers with the story La colmena. her text Querido hijo was also published in the digital magazine La Periódica. her stories feature grandmothers, mothers, lost women, and secrets. her literature explores the intimate realm where the wound becomes words and words become healing.