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.

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.

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

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