Clean

THE NUMBER 1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER AWARD 2025

'A masterclass in suspense' PAULA HAWKINS

‘A spellbinding nightmare’ FERNANDA MELCHOR

‘A book of intense power’ PHILIPPE SANDS

'A compelling book, with a tightly coiled power' PANDORA SYKES

The shockingly compulsive new literary thriller from the International Booker-shortlisted author of The Remainder.

Clean begins with an inescapable fact: a girl has died. Told by Estela, a maid to a wealthy, middle class family who speaks to us from a locked room, we hear of her plight and the circumstances that led to this moment. As we enter into her account of her daily existence, we see how her apparently simple life begins to sour, but would that drive her to the unthinkable?

Disturbing and profound, Clean explores domestic work, class and violence, against the backdrop of Chile’s changing political landscape. This is one of the most daring and compelling thrillers in international literature.

'Uncomfortable and provocative … a chilling account' FINANCIAL TIMES

'I hardly paused for breath' ALICE SLATER, author of Death of a Bookseller

'Remarkable, gripping' SARAH BERNSTEIN, author of Study for Obedience

'Terrifying, explosive and exhilarating' KATIE KITAMURA, author of Intimacies

‘Beautifully written and profound’ LUCIE WHITEHOUSE, author of Last Witness

Number 1 Bestseller in Sweden

About the author

Alia Trabucco Zerán was born in Chile in 1983. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for her MFA in Creative Writing at New York University and she holds a PhD in Spanish and Latin American Studies from University College London. Her debut novel, The Remainder was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2019. Her non-fiction title, When Women Kill won the British Academy Book Prize 2022 and was shortlisted for the National Books Critics Circle Criticism Award, and film rights have been sold. Her latest novel, Clean, is being translated into 15 languages. She won the Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer’s Award 2024 for her next project. She lives in Santiago.