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By (author) Enrigue, Álvaro; Translated by Wimmer Natasha

”An Aztec West Wing” GUARDIAN

”I was so impressed that I”m on my second read” TORREY PETERS

”A triumph” FINANCIAL TIMES

”Glorious” i-D

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF 2024
A GUARDIAN TOP FIVE TRANSLATED FICTION OF 2024

In 1519, Conquistador Hernán Cortés and his troops ride into the floating city of Tenoxtitlan – today’s Mexico City – in this hallucinatory, revelatory, colonial revenge story.

Invited to a ceremonial meal with the steely princess Atotoxtli, sister and wife of the emperor Moctezuma, the Spanish nearly bungle their entrance into the city and its labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortés’s captains, Jazmín Caldera, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed, and wonders at the risks of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire.

Moctezuma himself is at a political, spiritual and physical crossroads, relying on hallucinogens in a quest for any kind of answer from the gods. When Cortés and Moctezuma meet, two worlds, empires, languages, and possible futures collide.

You Dreamed of Empires brings to life Tenoxtitlan at its height – and reimagines its destiny.
It sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream.

Translated by Natasha Wimmer

”A mischievous fantasy” TLS

A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY TOP TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

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I was so impressed with Álvaro Enrigue’s You Dreamed of Empires that I am on my second reread

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Parts of the novel play like an Aztec West Wing, taking us deep into the political manoeuvrings of the royal court but blending its particularities with 21st-century psychology. It’s
a rich approach that achieves a hallucinatory vividness

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Riotously entertaining… Natasha Wimmer brilliantly brings the author’s playfulness and idiomatic humour to life for an English-language readership. The result is
a triumph of solemnity-busting erudition and mischievous invention that will delight and titillate

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A mischievous fantasy… Enrigue plunges exuberantly into the revisionist speculation that rehabilitates Indiginous awareness and agency

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A lively, arresting read – if 2024 brings more novels as original as this one, it will be a good year

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An eclectic work of exceptional originality

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Enrigue’s genius lies in his ability to bring readers close to its tangled knot of priests, mercenaries, warriors and princesses while adding a pinch of biting humor

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Enrigue’s work is marked by an all-consuming attention to historical detail…. He is
a preternaturally entertaining and erudite writer who builds alternate worlds from the minutiae. He also seems like he’s having a pretty good time

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Incantatory… Enrigue conjures both court intrigue and city life with grace

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[S]ublime absurdities… abound in this delirious historical fantasia, which can be said to be many things:
funny, ghastly, eye-opening, marvelous and frequently confounding

Biographical note:

Álvaro Enrigue was born in Mexico and lives in New York City. He is a literature professor at Hofstra University. Sudden Death – his first novel to be translated into English – was awarded the prestigious Herralde Prize in Spain, the Elena Poniatowska International Novel Award in Mexico, and the Barcelona Prize for Fiction.