“Carcoma”, by Layla Martinez: the widows' house

For two centuries that it has been established on the street, Immobilière du Fantastique has established itself as a trusted agency which has been able to offer its clients: the Usher house, sucked into the fetid depths of a marsh (The Fall of the House of Usherd’Edgar Poe, 1839), The Witch's House and its metadimensional dizziness (H. P. Lovecraft, 1933), Malpertuisa nursing home for exiled gods (Jean Ray, 1943), Hill house and its horrors according to Shirley Jackson (The Haunted House1959), without forgetting the Overlook Hotel, its endless corridors and its labyrinth garden (Shiningthe Stephen King, 1977).

This residential park of choice has just been equipped, with Woodwormthe first novel by Spanish poet and essayist Layla Martinez, from an extraordinary new place. Simply named “the house”, this veritable burrow of unhealthy shadows is a large Castilian peasant dwelling endowed with a quivering sensitivity and an ogre's appetite. The beginning of the novel gives the the : “When I crossed the threshold, the house fell on me. It's always the same with this pile of bricks and dirt. » Emphasized impression, a few pages later : “This house is a trap, not a refuge. » And, on the last page: “The house shook. Doors opened and closed violently, pots and pans banging on the kitchen floor. »

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