The Borough Press pre-empts Elaine Vilar Madruga’s 'deliciously dark' Cuban jungle horror

The Borough Press has pre-empted Elaine Vilar Madruga’s Cuban literary horror about motherhood, violence and death in the jungle.

Suzie Dooré, editor at large at the imprint, and HarperVia associate editor Alexa Frank pre-empted world English rights in the new novel from Elaine Vilar Madruga, prize-winning author of The Tyranny of Flies (HarperVia). Frank agreed the deal with Marta González at MB Literary Agency, and the book will be translated by Kevin Gerry Dunn.

The novel is currently called El Cielo de la Selva, which translates as "the heavens above the rainforest", but the title in English is yet to be confirmed. It focuses on a community of women and children — and one man — living in the rainforest, where the jungle gods require appeasement through sacrifice.

The novel is scheduled for spring 2026, and the Spanish-language version has been praised by author Mariana Enríquez as “this shocking novel is the blood that we cannot stop seeing, a story about the voracity of violence, motherhood and death in the jungle, about what makes us human and what makes us cruel”.

Vilar Madruga said: “El Cielo de la Selva is about the fury of the body and the uncertainty of survival, and it makes me very happy to be publishing it with HarperCollins. This is the start of a journey, hunting for readers through the bowels of the jungle with its dark secrets. I can’t wait.”

Dooré, who spoke to The Bookseller recently about the horror boom, said: “Despite my long-ago degree being in Spanish, this will be the first translation from that language that I have published – I am glad to finally be justifying my education and beyond delighted that it’s with Elaine’s incredible new novel. It’s deliciously dark, chilling and utterly original, and we are so pleased to welcome this gut-punch of a novel to the list.”

Frank added: “Elaine is a one-of-a-kind talent. Her prose is killer and I remain in awe of her sharp storytelling and character writing. Editing The Tyranny of Flies has been an honour, and El Cielo De La Selva looks to be her most exciting novel yet. I’m thrilled to continue our publishing partnership here at HarperVia.”