To write ‘False Calm’, María Sonia Cristoff returned to her birthplace, Patagonia, two decades after she left it. She wanted to understand why it has a global reputation for being a place of isolation, so she visited the people living in the ‘ghost towns’ left behind by Patagonia’s oil boom. The result is a profound and eerie treasure trove of stories about people living in forgotten places. To name a few: a shop owner who anxiously observes scheduled buses that seldom arrive, a woman fascinated by madness, a priest in training with an unexplained nausea, and an oil field worker who spends most of his time in his own mind. Through conversation, historical articles, and personal reflections spanning topics from marriage to superstition and murder, Cristoff skillfully observes the complicated identity of Patagonia and the nuance that lies in quiet isolation. IM

Published by Daunt Books