The Drinker of Horizons
ABOUT
THE BOOK
In this novel, the award-winning author Mia Couto brings the epic love story between a young Mozambican woman named Imani and the Portuguese sergeant Germano de Melo to its moving close. We resume where The Sword and the Spear concluded: While Germano is left behind in Africa, serving with the Portuguese military, Imani has been enlisted to act as the interpreter to the imprisoned emperor of Gaza, Ngungunyane, on the long voyage to Lisbon. For the emperor and his seven wives, it will be a journey of no return. Imani’s own return will come only after a decade-long odyssey through the Portuguese empire at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The original Portuguese-language edition of The Drinker of Horizons (O Bebedor de Horizontes) was published by Editorial Caminho in November 2017
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR David
Brookshaw
Born in London, David Brookshaw is an emeritus professor at the School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol. He specialises in comparative literature, translation, and postcolonial Portuguese literature. He has translated works by Mia Couto, and Onésimo Almeida and compiled an anthology of stories by the Portuguese author José Rodriguez.
Born in London, David Brookshaw is an emeritus professor at the School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol. He specialises in comparative literature, translation, and postcolonial Portuguese literature. He has translated works by Mia Couto, and Onésimo Almeida and compiled an anthology of stories by the Portuguese author José Rodriguez.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
It is the last book in Mia Couto’s trilogy about the Emperor of Gaza which, from a literary perspective, recreates the memories of Ngungunhana’s one-way trip to prison in the Azores in Portugal, marking the end of one of the most feared African states in southern Mozambique. . It is one of the most sought-after novels in our library and one of the most popular books in Portuguese-speaking society.