ABOUT
THE BOOK

Translated from the Portuguese by Alison Entrekint

2020 Longlist

Ciccio already has many problems: romantic failure, an older brother who seems intent on breaking the heart of every beautiful woman in Sao Paulo, a distant and larger-than-life father. When Ciccio finds, among the many of his father’s books that line the walls of their house, a troubling letter dated ‘December 21, 1931. Berlin’, his existential crisis only intensifies.
It seems that his father once had a child with another woman – a German son whose fate remains unclear. Ciccio sets out on a mission to locate his lost half-brother, and to win the respect of his father. But as Brazil’s military government cracks down on dissent, and rumours of arrests and disappearances spread, while Ciccio has been out looking for his German brother, he finds that he has taken his eye off his immediate family . . .

About the Author

Chico Buarque was born in 1944 in Rio de Janeiro. He is a singer, guitarist, composer, dramatist, writer and poet. He is the author of numerous novels; in 2010 Spilt Milk won both of Brazil’s leading literary prizes, the  Prêmio Jabuti and the Prêmio   Portugal Telecom. He lives in Rio de Janeiro.

Librarian’s Comments

Chico Buarque is at the forefront of a new wave of writing that should make you rethink everything you thought you knew about South American literature. Biblioteca Demonstrativa Maria da Conceição Moreira Salles, Brazil