Fever Dream
At the old family manse in Louisiana, Special Agent Pendergast is putting to rest long-ignored possessions reminiscent of his wife Helen's tragic death, only to make a stunning-and dreadful-discovery. Helen had been mauled by an unusually large and vicious lion while they were big game hunting in Africa. But now, Pendergast learns that her rifle-her only protection from the beast-had been deliberately loaded with blanks. Who could have wanted Helen dead...and why? With Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta's assistance, Pendergast embarks on a quest to uncover the mystery of his wife's murder. It is a journey that sends him deep into her past where he learns much that Helen herself had wished to keep hidden. Helen Pendergast had nursed a secret obsession with the famed naturalist-painter John James Audubon, in particular a long-lost painting of his known as the Black Frame.As Pendergast probes more deeply into the riddle-the answer to which is revealed in a night of shocking violence, deep in the Louisiana bayou-he finds himself faced with an even greater question: who was the woman he married?
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In a rural Argentine clinic, a woman named Amanda lies dying. A boy named David sits beside her, asking her to walk back through the last days at a vacation home until she finds the moment when the worms got in.
Fever Dream was written by Samanta Schweblin, originally published in Spanish as Distancia de rescate in 2014. The English translation by Megan McDowell was published in 2017. The novella was a finalist for the Booker International Prize.
Yes. Netflix released a 2021 film adaptation directed by Claudia Llosa, with Samanta Schweblin co-writing the screenplay. The film preserves the novella's eerie atmosphere and dialogue-driven structure.
Fever Dream is 548 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Fever Dream takes most readers 8 to 12 hours to finish.
Fever Dream is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
Fever Dream is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.