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Relationships can be long and snaking, cutting like train tracks through the varied landscapes of a life, and they can be short, stuttering, brief and intense But their most compelling literary, emotional and mythologising potential lies at their beginnings, and at their ends There is a body of astrological, psychological, romantic, legal and fictional texts devoted to these opposite points of a relationship, testament to the scrutiny and energy poured into attempting to capture the superload of feelings wrapped up in them Tropes related to the making and breaking of relationships often, through the conceit of ‘soul mates’ or ‘love at first sight’, suggest an element of cosmic provision – what we might call fate – but rarely is the concept of fate itself explored Jorge Consiglio’s slim novel Fate is an intense, enigmatic consideration of fate in love, and of fate as a force in human life   Fate follows two couples in Buenos Aires: Karl and Marina, whose marriage is falling apart, and Amer and Clara, whose romance is beginning They barely intersect but their similarities, parallels and profound differences read, in Consiglio’s hands, like necessary reflections, even when their stories are profoundly separate Karl and Marina have a son, Simón: the jaw-clenching psychodrama of their marital collapse is mirrored by Simón in small, sniping, heartfelt rebellions (refusing to look up from computer games, refusing to eat) Amer and Clara meet at a support group for people trying to quit smoking and tumble headlong into heady passion and discombobulating arguments Even though one experience could be straightforwardly described as ‘bad’ (break-up) and one experience could be straightforwardly described as ‘good’ (new romance), neither relationship is exactly delineated by total happiness or unhappiness; instead, Consiglio succeeds in capturing the turbulent molecular specifics of emotions, moment to moment   This is only Consiglio’s second book to be translated and published into English (the first, the collection of short stories Southerly (Villa del Parque), has also been published by Charco Press) Consiglio is a prolific and prize-winning author in Argentina and in Spain, with five novels