At the centre of this quirky and original novel is hair. Magical hair that grows at a furious rate and can communicate with its owner. So magical realism, but magical realism situated in a novel that is otherwise concerned with some pretty important real-life themes. The trade in human hair, for one. Not sure how much of this is based on fact but it felt pretty convincing to me. And the importance of hair in the beauty industry and its effect on women's sense of self-worth and how it defines society’s view of beauty. Then there’s baby-trafficking, baby farming, international surrogacy, fertility clinics. The exploitation of female bodies. Pretty weighty themes, and sometimes the book felt somewhat too busy, too complicated and confusing, demanding much concentration to follow all the sub-plots. Because trafficking of any kind leads to criminality, and when Norma, the one with the magical hair, discovers that maybe her mother’s suicide wasn’t suicide at all (her hair suggests this to her) she finds herself caught up in all sorts of nefarious shenanigans. This is by no means a character-driven novel, and I found few of the characters three-dimensional or at all engaging, but I did find the novel’s trajectory absorbing, and the dark secrets that are gradually revealed compelling and thought-provoking. All in all, although not without its faults, this is a novel well worth reading, well-paced and with the multiple strands cleverly merged.

I've given this four stars based on my own enjoyment of Norma, though I'm not sure the general English-speaking readership will rate it quite so highly. Norma is a mixture of Magical Realism and Thriller, with a touch of European folklore thrown in for measure. Having read English translations of other authors who throw such genre convention to the wind, I found myself enjoying this immensely, though suspect my tastes may be considered odd. The ending was not quite what I expected, though if you have a mind for experimental fiction I do suggest you give this a try.