The acoustic ear trumpet

La trompetilla acústica by Leonora Carrington is a surrealist novel full of absurd, comic, and paradoxical turns, told with sharp imagination and dark humor.
At its center is Marion Leatherby, a 92-year-old woman whose life changes after she receives a hearing trumpet that makes her perceive the world in a startlingly different way.
After being placed in a nursing home due to her son’s contempt, Marion is swept into strange situations that distort “normal” reality and pull the reader along page by page.
Carrington’s surrealism comes through as risible, dreamlike logic rather than straightforward satire, creating a reading experience that feels uncanny and playful at the same time.
The story also invites “modern myths,” where witchcraft and alchemy appear as motifs—less as rules to decode and more as doorways into mood, mystery, and meaning.
This Spanish edition is published by Fondo de Cultura Económica in the Tezontle collection (first edition: 2017).
The book is 176 pages and includes illustrations, making it especially appealing if you enjoy literary fiction with a visual, artistic atmosphere.
Choose this novel if you love surreal literature, offbeat character-driven stories, and fiction that rewards curiosity more than certainty.
It’s also a strong pick for readers who want a compact book that still feels expansive—strange, funny, and emotionally resonant in unexpected ways.
If you’re building a world literature shelf, this is the kind of title that stands out because it refuses to behave like a “normal” novel.