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Eliete is a normal woman in her early forties, born just after the
Carnation Revolution. There is hardly anything extraordinary about
her life, and yet she enthralls us with her desire to live, and to
understand people and things. Her daughters are mostly on the
internet and abroad; her husband is easier to meet on Facebook than
at home. Who cares if Eliete, who feels strongly that her youth is
gone, allows herself to experiment on Tinder? She would prefer to
reignite her relationship with her husband, but he doesn't seem
interested. Eliete stays cool and doesn't despair. Then suddenly
she finds someone and something different - an inkling of love? Is
Duarte a real-life version of one of the heroes in the teenage
magazines of her childhood? And what on earth does it mean when her
dementia-suffering grandmother says that Portugal's former dictator
is part of their family story? With precise language and acute
psychological insight, Cardoso creates a multifaceted character of
great strength. Ironic, but by no means distanced, Eliete reflects
on an apparently ordinary life against the background of a
three-generation story of the 20th and 21st century in Portugal.
These 12 short stories by some of Brazil's finest authors offer
snapshots of Brazilian life, past and present, in all its teeming
and vibrant complexity.
suddenly I should have stayed at home, I should have stayed at
home, I should have stayed at home, for some time, seconds, hours,
I can do nothing, suddenly I stop Violeta is driving along a lonely
stretch of late-night motorway, in the midst of a fearsome storm.
When her tired eyes close for just a second, her car veers off the
road, rolls down a muddy embankment, over and over, and comes to
rest on an empty stretch of sodden ground. And as she lies amid the
wreckage of her car, suspended between this world and the next,
Violeta's life will quite literally flash before her eyes . . .
Scenes from her past overlap with what happened right before the
accident: her upbringing with her distant, critical mother; her
father's mysterious double-life; her troubled relationship with her
daughter; her life on the road as she drives between waxing
product-selling appointments with breaks at motorway service
stations, the abuse from other travellers mocking her size, the
alcohol, the risky encounters with lorry drivers on filthy public
toilet floors... Violeta Among the Stars weaves memories and
feelings as Violeta reflects on her death, her life, her reality
and her dreams. An astonishing portrait of a seemingly
insignificant life, from one of Portugal's greatest living writers.
Translated from the Portuguese by Ángel Gurría-Quintana Ángel
Gurría-Quintana is a historian, journalist and literary translator
from Spanish and Portuguese. He writes regularly for the books
pages of the Financial Times, and his translations include the
anthology Other Carnivals: Short Stories from Brazil and The
Return, by Dulce Maria Cardoso. With the support of the Creative
Europe Programme of the European Union
suddenly I should have stayed at home, I should have stayed at
home, I should have stayed at home, for some time, seconds, hours,
I can do nothing, suddenly I stop Violeta is driving along a lonely
stretch of late-night motorway, in the midst of a fearsome storm.
When her tired eyes close for just a second, her car veers off the
road, rolls down a muddy embankment, over and over, and comes to
rest on an empty stretch of sodden ground. And as she lies amid the
wreckage of her car, suspended between this world and the next,
Violeta's life will quite literally flash before her eyes . . .
Scenes from her past overlap with what happened right before the
accident: her upbringing with her distant, critical mother; her
father's mysterious double-life; her troubled relationship with her
daughter; her life on the road as she drives between waxing
product-selling appointments with breaks at motorway service
stations, the abuse from other travellers mocking her size, the
alcohol, the risky encounters with lorry drivers on filthy public
toilet floors... Violeta Among the Stars weaves memories and
feelings as Violeta reflects on her death, her life, her reality
and her dreams. An astonishing portrait of a seemingly
insignificant life, from one of Portugal's greatest living writers.
Translated from the Portuguese by Angel Gurria-Quintana Angel
Gurria-Quintana is a historian, journalist and literary translator
from Spanish and Portuguese. He writes regularly for the books
pages of the Financial Times, and his translations include the
anthology Other Carnivals: Short Stories from Brazil and The
Return, by Dulce Maria Cardoso. With the support of the Creative
Europe Programme of the European Union
I might no longer exist here at this moment this moment might no
longer exist for me Violeta is driving along a lonely stretch of
late-night motorway, caught in a tumultuous storm. When her tired
eyes close for just a second, her car veers off the road,
overturns, and comes to rest on an empty stretch of sodden ground.
And as she lies amid the wreckage, suspended between this world and
the next, Violeta's troubled life will quite literally flash before
her eyes . . . Violeta Among the Stars weaves memories and feelings
as Violeta reflects on her death and her life, the piercing highs
and the seedy lows. An astonishing portrait of a seemingly
insignificant life from one of Portugal's greatest living writers.
"An extraordinary piece of writing on the life of an ordinary
woman" Litro "Absolutely compelling . . . this novel is truly
unforgettable" Irish Independent Translated from the Portuguese by
Angel Gurria-Quintana Angel Gurria-Quintana is a historian,
journalist and literary translator from Spanish and Portuguese. He
writes regularly for the books pages of the Financial Times, and
his translations include the anthology Other Carnivals: Short
Stories from Brazil and The Return, by Dulce Maria Cardoso. With
the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
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The Return (Paperback)
Angel Gurria Quintana; Dulce Maria Cardoso
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R309
R251
Discovery Miles 2 510
Save R58 (19%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Everyone has gone away... We too should no longer be here. Luanda,
1975. The Angolan War of Independence has been raging for at least
a decade, but with the collapse of the Salazar dictatorship, defeat
for the Portuguese is now in sight. Thousands of settlers are
fleeing back to Portugal to escape the brutality of the Angolan
rebels. Rui is fifteen years old. He has lived in Luanda all his
life and has never even visited the far-away homeland - although he
has heard many stories. But now his family are finally accepting
that they too must return, and Rui is filled with a mixture of
excitement and dread at the prospect. But just as they are leaving
for the airport, his father is taken away by the rebels, and the
family must leave without him. Not knowing if the father is alive
or dead - or if they will ever find out what has become of him,
Rui, his mother and sister try to rebuild their lives in their new
home. This turns out to be a five star hotel in a quiet, seaside
suburb of Lisbon, where returnee families are crammed into
luxurious rooms by the dozen. These palatial surroundings are a
cruel contrast with the reality of returnee life. The hotel becomes
a curious form of purgatory as the families wait to discover what
will become of them - ever conscious of the fact that they are
hardly welcome back in their homeland. Rui has his own personal
struggle with his new life: growing up, dropping out of school,
facing discrimination, and the ever-present worry over his mother's
deteriorating health and his father's fate. And then one night
Rui's father returns from the dead. Translated from the Portuguese
by Angel Gurria-Quintana
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