Number 33 on Orquídea Street by Talita Isla

In El Número 33 de la Calle Orquídea, author Talita Isla presents a haunting, genre-blending narrative that fuses dark fantasy with psychological horror. The protagonist, Berta Simmenthal, lives under the shadow of a degenerative illness that is reshaping her body and severing her sense of belonging in a society obsessed with normality. Isolated and pressured by her parents to undergo a difficult operation, Berta retreats into the decaying neighbourhood where she resides — a district whose walls seem alive with whispers, and which holds the secret of an old tragedy that echoes through the building at No. 33. 

When Berta’s best friend Sol invites her to a Halloween party, she seizes the chance to—if only for one night—escape the limitations imposed by her illness and return to what once made her happiest: dancing. But the evening quickly veers into the uncanny. Within the party’s eerie atmosphere, she becomes not only a guest but a central figure in a ritual forged by the dark energy of her internal rage and the walls’ hidden voices. This novel explores themes of body autonomy, social alienation, and the interplay of external and internal monsters. Berta’s physical transformation mirrors the horror that builds in the house and in her psyche. Isla’s writing uses the party setting and the haunted building as metaphors for the rites we endure when our identity and agency are compromised and for the rituals of release we seek when we are oppressed—physically or socially.

Readers who appreciate intense psychological horror with an undercurrent of gothic atmosphere will find this book compelling. The tension builds from everyday settings—a Barrio, a Halloween party—into a full-blown confrontation with supernatural forces. The house at No. 33 becomes a character itself, its whispers guiding the plot and revealing the past’s grip on the present.

In short, El Número 33 de la Calle Orquídea is a bold and visceral novel that challenges both societal norms of appearance and the fear of losing one’s body and identity. It invites the reader to question what it means to fit in, and what it means to break free through the darkest of nights.