Safety distance

“I always think of the worst-case scenario. Right now I am calculating how long it would take me to get out of the car and reach Nina if she suddenly ran to the pool and jumped in. I call it “safety distance,” that is what I call the ever-changing distance between me and my daughter, and I spend half the day calculating it, although I always risk more than I should.”

Amanda is on her deathbed in a hospital bed. Beside her, keeping her company, is a boy named David. Together they tell us a story of toxins, despair and the power of family.

In a compelling debut novel, Samanta Schweblin repeatedly confronts us with questions we choose to avoid: Is there any apocalypse that is not personal? At what exact point, without realizing it, do we take a wrong step and condemn ourselves? How much can we possibly control the world around us?

Safety Distance is a hypnotic and dizzying account of love and loss, unafraid to show that nothing is a cliché when, in the end, it happens to us.