Bury Your Dead

Winner of the 2019 São Paulo Prize for Literature, Bury Your Dead is a stark and thought-provoking meditation on mortality, humanity, and existential struggle. Edgar Wilson, a man tasked with collecting dead animals from roads, leads a life of quiet monotony alongside Tomás, an excommunicated priest who performs last rites for accident victims.

Edgar’s routine is upended when he discovers a woman’s body in the woods and decides to preserve her dignity in a freezer at the depot. As more bodies emerge, Edgar and Tomás confront the blurred lines between life and death, good and evil, in their surreal, desolate world.

With direct, unflinching prose, Ana Paula Maia weaves a grim yet philosophical tale that combines modern-day western elements with profound moral inquiry. Bury Your Dead is a haunting exploration of the fragility of normalcy and the search for meaning in a world marked by decay and neglect.