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Bad Habit

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What to expect

‘I urge you to read Bad Habit' PEDRO ALMÓDVAR

‘The most talked-about debut of the year’ TIME OUT SPAIN

‘The book that everyone is reading’ NEW YORK TIMES

Told in an irresistible, heartrending voice, Bad Habit takes us deep into the lives of the residents of a godforsaken Madrid neighbourhood ironically named after a holy saint.

An unnamed young trans woman grows up in a working-class suburb that has no place for her. She discovers community and kinship in downtown Madrid, amid a dazzling party scene animated by charming junkies, glamorous pop divas, and fallen angels. With each step she takes forward in the city, she finds herself confronted by an antagonism she does not yet know how to counter. In this thrilling and yet often frightening place each decision can have the highest of stakes and yet she knows that only she can forge a path forward to the life she truly wants to live.

Blistering and compassionate, Bad Habit by Alana S Portero is translated by Mara Faye Lethem, and deftly illuminates the ties between gender and class, the search for identity, and the power of chosen family. Shimmering in its lyrical beauty and vivid in its realism, Bad Habit is a searing, mesmerising story of self-realisation that speaks to the outsider in all of us.

‘Obliges the reader to hold back (or unleash) their feelings chapter after chapter’ VOGUE SPAIN

‘A tender, evocative coming of age story’ ISLE MCELROY

‘A beautiful novel … about the journey we take to become who we truly are’ ELENA MEDEL

‘Elegant and brutal, Portero's writing pierces all of our defences and lets the crying light in’ MORGAN M PAGE

‘Portero has written a masterpiece’ MARISA CRANE

‘Beautifully-written, heartbreaking’ TAWSEEF KHAN

‘Devastating yet beautiful’ TRAVIS ALABANZA

Critics Review

  • ‘I urge you, read Bad Habit to fully grasp the degree of adversity, pain, and danger endured for virtue of growing-up trans’ Pedro Almodóvar

    ‘The book that everyone is reading … tells the story of a working-class transgender woman full of rage and beauty, pain and poetry’ New York Times

    ‘Obliges the reader to hold back (or unleash) their feelings chapter after chapter’ Vogue Spain

    ‘Leaves you stunned … Devastating yet beautiful … A special and unique creation’ Travis Alabanza, author of None of the Above

    ‘Elegant and brutal, Portero’s writing pierces all of our defences’ Morgan M Page, author of Boys Don’t Cry

    ‘Such a beautiful novel … about the journey we take to become who we truly are’ Elena Medel, author of The Wonders

    ‘Beautifully-written, heartbreaking and sometimes comedic’ Tawseef Khan, author of Determination

    ‘A singular and raw voice … The most talked-about debut of the year’ Time Out Spain

    ‘A tender, evocative coming of age story about learning to live authentically’ Isle McElroy, author of People Collide

    ‘Brutal, tender, and vulnerable … Portero has written a masterpiece, an ode, a life-giving story of trans affirmation’ Marisa Crane, author of I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself

    ‘A splendid novel … an extraordinary command of language, with an exquisite style’ El Mundo

    ‘Every page engulfs you and brings you back to life. So moving’ Iván Repila, author of The Ally

    ‘A dazzling writer, raw and brilliant’ María Sánchez, author of Land of Women

    ‘A voice full of beauty and rage’ Belén Gopegui, author of Stay This Day and Night with Me

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