“Good afternoon, do you know where we can buy a string?” Frida asked the man behind the bar.
The barman explained that they would have to go to San Miguel de Tucumán. He told them how to get there. They would need to take a taxi. At that moment the solitary girl offered to take them. Frida looked at her properly for the first time. Just looking at her, she felt her body respond. She had that feeling of being at the start of a story. Of a love story, of a tragedy. Of something that can only happen when one is fully alive.
February–December 2013
About the Author
Sergio Olguín was born in Buenos Aires in 1967. His first work of fiction, Lanús, was published in 2002. It was followed by a number of successful novels, including Oscura monótona sangre (Dark Monotonous Blood), which won the Tusquets Prize in 2009. His books have been translated into English, German, French and Italian. The Foreign Girls, following on from the success of The Fragility of Bodies, is the second in a crime series featuring journalist Veronica Rosenthal. Sergio Olguín is also a scriptwriter and has been the editor of a number of cultural publications.
Copyright
BITTER LEMON PRESS
First published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by
Bitter Lemon Press, 47 Wilmington Square, London WC1X 2ET
www.bitterlemonpress.com
First published in Spanish as Las extranjeras
by Suma de Letras (Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Argentina), 2014
Bitter Lemon Press gratefully acknowledges the financial
assistance of the Arts Council of England
Work published within the framework of “Sur” Translation Support Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of the Argentine Republic
Obra editada en el marco del Programa “Sur” de Apoyo a las Traducciones del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto de la República Argentina
Lyrics: p. 47, “Zingara”, sung by Iva Zanicchi. Composed by Enrico Riccardi and Luigi Albertelli, released Feb. 1969 © PSP; p. 47, “Fra Noi (È Finita Così)”, sung by Iva Zanicchi, released 1966; p. 109, “É Isso Aí”, sung by Ana Carolina and Seu Jorge, © 2005 BMG Brasil LTDA, p. 210, “Dindiandi”, by Petra Magoni and Ferruccio Spinetti, © 2007 Bonsaï Music
© Sergio Olguín, 2014
This edition published by arrangement with VF Agencia Literaria
English translation © Miranda France, 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher
The moral rights of the author and the translator have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All the characters and events described in this novel are imaginary and any similarity with real people or events is purely coincidental
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
PB ISBN 978–1–913394–387
eBook USC ISBN 978–1–913394–394
eBook ROW ISBN 978–1–913394–462
Typeset by Tetragon, London
Printed and bound by the CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
The Foreign Girls Page 36