The continuing boom in Latin American literature (LatAm), has introduced us to some amazing writers (we’ve loved recent works by Mariana Enriquez and Dahlia de la Cerda). In common with these and other LatAm writers, in The Queens of Sarmiento Park by Camila Sosa Villada, the author brings us an impassioned and lyrical tale that blends the political and subcultural with a dash of magical realism. Hers is the story of ‘the queerest boarding house in the world’, the sex workers who live there with the matriarchal Auntie Encarna, and what happens when Auntie finds an abandoned baby and decides to raise him as one of their own.
Set in the Argentinian city of Córdoba, the story is told through the eyes of Camila, one of the titular queens. In an author’s note Villada tells us that Northern academia would describe her characters as trans women sex workers, but here ‘down below the equator, right at the end of the world,’ they prefer to be known as ‘travestis’, a derogatory term which they are reclaiming. In her earlier life, Villada was herself a travesti.
Sarmiento Park sits in the heart of Córdoba, a mecca for nighttime thrill seekers. Here the travestis hang out in the shadows of ancient trees, waiting for trade and sharing stories, whiskey, and cocaine, some of which vanishes into noses ‘which are large and natural, others cut down to size by the surgeon’s scalpel. The devil lends what nature has withheld.’
With them is Auntie Encarna, survivor and old soul. Alerted by the sound of crying on this bitter night that is cold enough to freeze tears, she discovers a baby boy in a drainage ditch. Deaf to the objections and fears of the girls, she insists on bringing him home. She will name him Twinkle and they will bring him up.
In this blazing novel, peopled with flamboyant and damaged characters, Villada tells us their stories through the eyes of Camila. It’s an often bruising read, tales of poverty, family rejection, double lives and the price of escaping deadening conformity. Each travesti has at some stage reached a seemingly simple conclusion, ‘Your body produces money. Then you spend the money on whatever you want…you’re now in charge of your fate.’
Except, of course, that’s not true. There’s the weight of public condemnation, corrupt police, violent and sometimes murderous ‘clients’, and the shadow of AIDS, things which the travestis close the door on once they step inside the safe haven of Auntie’s boarding house.
Here, in her pink house, filled with wonderful plants and the background tv hum of Brazilian soap operas, they share dreams and find strength. And for a while, the presence of Twinkle is a blessing, this child ‘who belonged to all us daughters of nobody’. Auntie is particularly enamoured, but she’s tired of being discreet and hiding him away; she wishes to walk with him ‘in the sunlight’. How this plays out makes for a powerful and utterly compelling read. It’s no wonder that The Queens of Sarmiento Park has won a clutch of international literary awards.
The Queens of Sarmiento Park by Camila Sosa Villada is published by Virago and translated by Kit Maude, 208 pages.
