‘Panza de Burro’ by Andrea Abreu

‘Panza de Burro’ (English: ‘Dogs of Summer,’ German: ‘So forsch, so furchtlos’) by Andrea Abreu is set in Tenerife and is a sensational debut novel.

The adolescent first-person narrator and her best friend Isora spend every day of their summer break together. They discover life, their bodies, and the difficulties of growing up.

This novel shows a different side of Tenerife—not the beaches, the food, the drinks. This is the home of people who struggle like everyone else. And the narrator’s explicit, authentic language of the narrator shows that.

CW: eating disorder, abuse, racist/homophobic/ableist language by some characters