The breathtaking eco novel Cloudy Water (“Água turva”), plays with the limits of truth and fiction. In an impressive narrative, Morgana Kretzmann portrays elements of recent Brazilian history and reveals the ambition of powerful men faced with one of our greatest treasures: the environment. The story takes place on the border between Brazil and Argentina, in an area where the Turvo State Park is located, which has the largest longitudinal waterfall in the world, the Salto do Yucamã, a sacred place threatened by the illegal construction of a hydroelectric power station. Park ranger Chaya is responsible for preventing the hunt of wild animals in the park. Preta, her cousin, separated from the family as a child, is the leader of a much-feared group of hunters and smugglers in the Argentinian side of the border, the Pies Rubros. Olga, the parliamentary assistant of a greedy legislator, is forced to return to her hometown as a spokeswoman for the incoming environmental tragedy — until she realizes the chance to change the course of history is in her hands. From enemies to allies, the three women find themselves forced to overcome a troubled past in order to finally build a possible future for everyone. But they aren’t alone: Sarampião, the mythical figure of a park ranger and nature protector and not least Chaya’s grandfather, seems to accompany them and help them in battle.

Blood Harvest (“Safra de Sangue”) is a rural novel whose main character is Agnes, the leader of a small community called Celeiro, a kind of healer and spiritual adviser to the farming families. She will do anything to bury her niece in one piece, since the child was killed by a soybean harvesting machine belonging to a large cooperative that exploits local workers. The girl, who had her hair caught in the machine’s combs and her scalp ripped off and then stolen, was left in the fields to die. Agnes will seek justice whatever the cost.

Morgana Kretzmann’s debut novel To Dust (“Ao Pó”), 2021 São Paulo Literature Prize winner, tells the story of Sofia, a young theatre actress who could have a brilliant career in Rio de Janeiro if she didn’t have to struggle with the shadows of her past. Even her boyfriend Carlos, a respected playwright, can’t help her; their relationship experiences ups and downs that eventually lead to a humiliating break-up. Sofia is also haunted by great feelings of guilt, because when she, barely of age, fragile and with no security, turned her back on her homeland to finally escape her uncle’s abuse, she left her younger sister Aline behind against her will – knowing that she would meet the same fate as herself. Sofia takes refuge more and more often in increasingly rampant alcohol binges, and when, after a concert, she allows all the men in the band to have sex with her, Carlos’s ego can no longer stand it. He changes the lock and sends her things in bin bags to a friend’s address. From then on, Sofia can’t shake off the thought of revenge, revenge on the men who destroyed her: Carlos, the band leader, and especially her uncle. To do this, she travels to São Paulo, to Belo Horizonte and back to her hometown of Tenente Portela in southern Brazil. There, her sister has just committed suicide, and in the end, it is the single mother, who had turned a blind eye to all the years of abuse, who avenges her daughters.