Hugh's Reviews > Elena Knows

Deservedly shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022
Another book that thoroughly deserves its place on the International Booker list, and one which could easily be a winner. It is a very cleverly constructed story of three women. The main protagonist is Elena, who suffers from an aggressive form of Parkinson's disease which means that she can only walk after medication. She has been cared for by her daughter Rita, whose body has recently been found hanging from a church bell tower.

Elena is unable to accept the police's view that Rita's death was suicide, and sets out to investigate, seeking help from the third main character Isabel. How Isabel fits into the story cannot be described without spoilers, but the plot is revealed very cleverly in ways that mirror Elena's own growing awareness of how little she knows.

The story also involves three issues in which the Catholic church dogma puts lives under great strain, namely abortion, suicide and euthanasia, and all of this is at least superficially within the narrative framework more usually associated with crime fiction.

A very impressive book.