ABOUT
THE BOOK

Free City is master storyteller João Almino’s third novel to focus on the city of Brasília in the social swirl of its early years. João Almino is a master storyteller and one of the leading Portuguese authors. Free City is rich narrative, both real and symbolic, when contractors, corporate profiteers, idealists, politicians, mystical sects, and even celebrities mingled-Aldous Huxley, Fidel Castro, Andre Malraux, John Dos Passos, Elizabeth Bishop, and many others. Putting past and present into direct conflict, the story takes the form of a blog, even incorporating comments from other bloggers, each with their vested interests, each with new reasons for spinning fictions of their own.

“Free City is brilliant. Brasilia was always a mystery to me when hearing about it growing up and now it is much less so and yet in a way beset with new mysteries. João Almino has put the city on the literary map, and in his Borgesian/anthropological/passionate way.” -Lorrie Moore, author of A Gate at the Stairs.