Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird: Stories

Written by Agustina Bazterrica

Narrated by Aida Reluzco, Andy Garcia-Ruse, André Santana and Christian Barillas

An NPR Best Book of 2023

A collection of nineteen dark, wildly imaginative short stories from the author of the award-winning TikTok sensation Tender Is the Flesh.

From celebrated author Agustina Bazterrica, this collection of nineteen brutal, darkly funny short stories takes into our deepest fears and through our most disturbing fantasies. Through stories about violence, alienation, and dystopia, Bazterrica’s vision of the human experience emerges in complex, unexpected ways—often unsettling, sometimes thrilling, and always profound. In “Roberto,” a girl claims to have a rabbit between her legs. A woman’s neighbor jumps to his death in “A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound,” and in “Candy Pink,” a woman fails to contend with a difficult breakup in five easy steps.

Written in Bazterrica’s signature clever, vivid style, these stories question love, friendship, family relationships, and unspeakable desires.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Translator: Sarah Moses
• Release date: Jun 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781797158754

Agustina Bazterrica

Agustina Bazterrica is an Argentinian novelist and short story writer. She is a central figure in the Buenos Aires literary scene. She won the prestigious Premio Clarin Novela for her second novel, Tender Is the Flesh, which has been translated into twenty-three languages. Several of the stories in Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird have also won awards, including First Prize in the 2004/2005 City of Buenos Aires Awards for Unpublished Stories and First Prize in the Edmundo Valadés Awards for the Latin American Short Story, among others.

Reviews for Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird

[Charles Jones · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a great collection of short (sometimes VERY short) horror stories and I really enjoyed them. Some were a little vague and hard for me to fully grasp the meaning and get into, but some were very intense and dark. Overall a very solid collection!

[Kelsey Noble · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Lots of pedophilia in the kid’s perspective, and suicide in the 2nd perspective. Even tells the reader they feel bliss after they shoot themselves.