Las Madres by Carmen Mola ****

Reading dates 20 April – 13 May 2025

Las Madres is the fifth instalment in the Elena Blanco series and I cannot help feel I am reading a disintegration, in the way Harry Hole disintegrated. Something big is being set up in this novel, something that will manifest in the next one and keep me reading. Yet, the dominating plot, around forced surrogacy and prostitution – las madres, the mothers – has interest in its own right. I wish the Orishas aspect was a little more developed though, that Elena’s things (grappa, Mina) were not so obvious, that everybody was not sleeping with everybody else and that Zarate was less annoying (or his annoying nature given a background). Still, the ruthlessness in the plotting and the linked narrative keep me going.

Iyami Oshoronga es la madre ancestral. Mantiene la armonía y el orden de toda la creación. La llaman bruja, pero es la fuerza femenina encargada de conseguir el equilibrio. Y, para conseguirlo, tiene la muerte, la enfermedad, la venganza y la pérdida…