Garter stitch

Garter stitch confirms Itxaso Martín as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Basque narrative. 

A mother and a daughter engage in a tense conversation in which what remains unsaid carries more weight than any spoken word. It is a ticking time bomb, on the verge of exploding. At the same time, in a recent past, three women ostracized by their neighbors struggle to survive by knitting in a damp, dark house. 

Garter stitch weaves together two stories that at first seem unconnected, gradually drawing closer until they reconstruct the truth of their protagonists—women marked by family secrets, unspoken suffering, religion, guilt, mental illness, and social expectations. The novel offers a detailed and profound portrait of an oppressive environment in which tenderness becomes the only possible means of survival. 

Far removed from gentle, nostalgic realism, Martín crafts a narrative of great psychological and emotional intensity. With a sober, intimate style stripped of euphemism, she explores how the mandates of “normality” can turn into forms of everyday violence. 

A fresh, provocative novel that invites reflection on who we are—our solitude, our emotions, and our identity.