Let’s Save the Fire
-ALFAGUARA NOVEL AWARD 2020
From the Oscar-winning screenwriter of ‘Babel’, ‘21 Grams’ and ‘Amores Perros’, a harrowing love story filled with fear and rage, set against the backdrop of a violently divided Mexico.
Marina, a married mother of three and a well-known choreographer, unexpectedly becomes involved with a completely unsuitable man. Sentenced to prison for the murder of his father, José is a wild beast always ready to attack. An untamed lion in a cage. Their relationship will gradually plunge her into a brutal world ablaze with raw violence. With tremendous intensity and a gripping, fast-paced rhythm, *Let Us Save the Fire* depicts the dangerous contradictions of a country, as well as the division within human nature between condemnation and redemption. Through multiple narrative voices, imaginative techniques and striking literary daring, Ariaga delivers one of the most compelling novels of the last decade.
- Pages: 992
- ISBN: 978-960-572-827-4
- Publication: 2026
- Date of publication: 20/04/2026
- Dimensions: 13.3 x 20.5 εκ.
- Categories: Literature, Books, Foreign Literature
Despite its harshness and dark atmosphere, the book stands out for its linguistic power and the originality of its writing. The result is a demanding yet captivating read that illuminates the contradictions of a country through a story of love and destruction.
– Stelios Papagrigoriou, CNNDespite the raw elements and the violence in "Save the Fire", Arriaga’s skill as a narrator, combined with his play with language, use of local dialects, and originality of expression, make it a fascinating, albeit disturbing, read.
– AndroGuillermo Arriaga captures, in an epic thriller, the contradictory reality of an entire country, Mexico, plagued by violence and destroyed by division. [...] An explosive cocktail of love, brutality, and sociopolitical criticism.
– Dimitris Georgikopoulos, To Vima
Guillermo Arriaga
Guillermo Arriaga was born in Mexico City in 1958. He is an award-winning author and screenwriter. He has written six novels and a collection of short stories. In 2005, he won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival for the screenplay of Melquiades Estrada’s film The Three Burials. He is the screenwriter of the films Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. His literary work has been translated into twenty-two languages. In 2020, he won the Alfaguara Prize for the novel Saving the Fire.
