Mexico

The overarching setting for all the stories in the collection is contemporary Mexico, a country grappling with a devastating femicide crisis. The collection portrays a world where violence against women is a constant, looming threat, and where political corruption, organized crime, and state negligence intertwine to leave women especially vulnerable. Everyday locations like homes, buses, nightclubs, and schools become sites of danger, highlighting how no place is truly safe. The setting is crucial in establishing the grim reality the characters navigate: a society where systemic failures and deep-rooted machismo allow violence to flourish largely without consequence.

Elite Private School

The elite private school that Yuliana attends is a setting marked by rigid social hierarchies and unspoken codes of classism. Despite Yuliana’s immense wealth, her classmates look down on her for being “naca,” or low-class, highlighting how markers of old money, refinement, and social background are valued more...