Better Not Tell (“Melhor não contar”) opens with an initiation scene: at the age of ten, the protagonist is relaxing at a swimming pool in the company of her mother and her stepfather. Not yet having reached puberty, she discards her bikini top and enjoys her innocence in the sun and wind. The quiet is interrupted when her stepfather, an acclaimed filmmaker, presents the sketch of the observation drawing he made earlier – there’s the girl, portrayed at that moment, with a detail that was impossible to miss: “Her nipples, pointing one at each end of the paper, catch the eye. There’s more ink on them, they’ve been drawn with force. They’re erect, I notice.”

This event would mark the end of the childhood (and innocence) of that girl, the daughter of a pioneering intellectual and journalist, a woman of unusual spirit and vitality. And in spite of this – as the narrator notes as an adult – even this powerful and apparently unbeatable mother had to deal with fluctuating male desires and the glaring inequalities between the genders. In life and in art.

Using the book’s title as a brilliant paradox, the narrator then decides to tell everything (or almost everything): from the rampant illness that will take her mother away from her when she is still young, to her partner’s reaction to an abortion when the protagonist is already mature and living abroad. And she does even more: she reflects on the difference between women and men when it comes to telling a story. Why are women so attached to diaries from childhood onwards? The answer, intuits Tatiana Salem Levy’s restless character, may have something to do with violence and abuse.

Vista Chinesa: It‘s 2014. Brazil and especially the city of Rio de Janeiro are euphoric. The Fifa World Cup is about to start, the 2016 Olympics are in sight. Construction is booming and real estate values are high. There is the feeling that Brazil has found a new path. A time of hope.

Júlia is a partner in an architecture firm in charge of some projects for the Rio Olympics. On the day of a meeting at City Hall, Júlia goes running. Since her teenage years she is obsessed with having a „perfect body“, thin and healthy thanks to diet and exercise. But along the way, someone holds a gun to her head and takes her to an isolated area. Júlia thinks that she would be killed as soon as the aggressor finished his deed. But she survives.

The physical description of the rape is treated delicately. The story focuses on Júlia and her attempts to communicate and rationalize the disgust she feels over having been raped. The rosary of pain, the overwhelming feelings of filthiness and guilt so common among victims of sexual violence, is described with great narrative skill. So are the successive trips to the police to identify suspects. And the sloppy and sometimes rude policeman, with little concern for the welfare of this citizen. Not everything is horror and darkness, however. The story is told to the protagonist‘s children, a girl and a boy, years after the terrible episode and in a Brazil already stripped of its party clothes. A „message in a bottle“ format, as the protagonist one day feels an urgent need to tell her children about the violation of the body which they came from.

Vista Chinesa is an impacting novel based on a true episode of sexual violence experienced by a friend of the author. The real-life rape during a run in the area known as Vista Chinesa, a lush Atlantic Forest in the middle of the metropolis. The identity of the friend and further details are addressed in a note at the end of the text. Vista Chinesa is the story of a woman and a city raped.

When Ana learns that she may be gravely ill, she retreats to a friend’s house in the countryside to face her demons, both past and future.

Having avoided her past for so long, Ana is finally forced to confront the tragedies that beset her family: the death of her beloved half-sister, her only ally when she didn’t know who to turn to when faced with an impossible choice, and what followed after. On her own in the countryside, Ana is set on deciphering a family curse which she believes to be at the root of it all, unravelling her ancestors’ unhappy stories. But real life soon catches up with her when she meets the mysterious Daniel, an artist who has chosen the wilderness to deal with his own problems. As they start sharing their pasts, a fragile future starts to emerge.

Superbly written, Paradise (“Paraíso”) is a gripping novel about the surprising power of overcoming adversity and shaping our own fate.

Largely autobiographical, The House in Smyrna (“A chave de casa”) is a gripping story spanning three generations and three continents that takes up contemporary issues in a rather unusual way. When her Turkish grandfather gives her a key to a house in Smyrna, the narrator sets out on a fascinating voyage into the past. While her Jewish grandparents had to flee from the Inquisition in Portugal to Turkey, in Brazil, her parents were persecuted as communists. Caught up in memories not her own, the young woman is haunted by her present, finding out who she truly is – and who she wants to be. A vibrant and original novel.

Have a look at an English extract on bookanista here!

Two Rivers (“Dois rios”) tells two parallel love stories whose protagonists share a dark secret. When Joana meets Marie-Ange on Copacabana beach, it is love at first sight. They embark on a passionate relationship in Corsica and Dois Rios, the place of Joana’s childhood. When Joana’s estranged twin brother Antonio sees Marie-Ange in Paris, he is immediately infatuated with her. Feeling finally able to make peace with his sister, he decides to face the demons of their past, remembering how very close they used to be. But then Marie-Ange abandons them both… Writing in beautifully atmospheric prose, Tatiana Salem Levy spins two tales that complement and contradict each other at the same time, irrevocably changing the characters in the process. An unforgettable read.

Pirapora, the Curupira (“Curupira Pirapora”), lives in Brazil’s rain forest and enjoys scaring hapless visitors with his red hair, green fur, yellow eyes and backward feet, laughing his head off whenever he succeeds. Janaína is a girl from the city who adores wearing tingly jewelry. Her mother is white, her father Indian. Janaína is sent to her grandparents to spend the summer in Amazonia but the mere thought of all the insects and plants and strange noises makes her shake with fear. Then Janaína and Pirapora, the Curupira, meet unexpectedly. After the first shock, they start living the most fantastic adventures together. Playfully giving us a glimpse of the diverse cultures that coexist in Brazil, this beautifully illustrated and superbly written book shows us how two beings who couldn’t be more different from one another can become friends. The Curupira is a mythical creature from Brazilian folklore who protects the forest and its animals.

Paulo Lins, author of City of God (“Cidade de Deus”), has collaborated with Flávia Helena on the children’s book The Creation of the New World (“A criação do novo mundo”), published at Nova Fronteira.
In this book, Miguel and Luísa are best friends, but also very different. Miguel is giving his parents a hard time, because he doesn’t like school. Luísa loves studying and learning about new things, she is dedicated and always ready to give help to those who need it.
One day when Luísa is attempting to speak to Miguel, the Saci-Pererê appears! He is a popular figure in Brazilian mythology, a small goblin-like creature with black skin colour and only one leg. Saci has an invitation for the two friends: creating a new world. Well, if our world seems that dull to Miguel, this is a golden opportunity! All they have to do is follow a few basic rules… will it work? Together, Miguel and Luísa enter a world, where magical castles and gardens of sweet await and which is threatened by the villain Brutus. After an argument, the two go their separate ways, but ultimately reunite and fight against Brutus.
The illustrations of Guilherme Campello make the plot even more fascinating and entertaining.

In Two Loves (“Dois Amores”) Lulu and Dudu are brothers. They live in Queimados, in the Baixada Fluminense, 50 kilometres from Rio. It’s a hot, dusty place with a lot of poverty and frequent violence. The two boys want to find a girlfriend. Above all, they want to kiss on the mouth. Now, the place to find a girlfriend is the funk party. But they need to look good, wearing colourful, branded trainers to impress. And to buy trainers you need money. Selling sweets on the train to Rio, mints outside the cinema, cleaning windscreens at the traffic lights. These are the cracks they find in the wall that excludes poor teenagers from the rest of society. And poor adults too. Their parents’ money barely covers the household diet: sausages, tomato and macaroni, flour, banana paste. Their mother is a cleaner, their father does odd jobs – when he can find them. For them too, the world is inaccessible; they too submit to the opportunities that come their way in order to keep the family afloat, covering their debts. In Queimados and in Rio – whether Copacabana and Leblon, the favelas or the dusty suburbs – Lulu and Dudu know that necessity and brutality are present in everything that happens, limiting their lives like a steel glove.

Over the past 30 years, the district of Mãe Luíza in Brazil’s northeastern city of Natal developed from a desolate favela into a functioning community. From the first humanitarian aid to construction of a gymnasium, this persistent process is outlined in short articles and essays in the second part of this richly illustrated volume. The documentation impressively demonstrates how transformation was achieved step by step with the help of many, laying the groundwork for ongoing progress. Less crime, better education, and a fairer society – much has been accomplished and even more is possible for the future. A story by bestselling author Paulo Lins (“City of God”) tells the stirring tale of the establishment of the Brazilian favela Mãe Luíza. Fleeing drought and deadly heat, the people there fought for a piece of land to call their own, hoping for a better life. Thanks to their optimism and solidarity, their vision gradually took shape.

Paulo Lins’ long-awaited new novel, Then There Was Samba (“Desde que o samba é samba“), depicts a colourful evolution of what was to become samba as it is known today, starring a multitude of vividly painted characters. The inhabitants of the red-light district in 1920s Rio de Janeiro are hassled by the police who despise their skin colour, their African rituals and their music. Yet through all this, they manage to present the world with a riveting new rhythm while falling in and out of love and dealing with their own everyday concerns, like the pimp Brancura who, trying to become a great musician, tries and fails to give up his reprobate life. Featuring plenty of lively dialogues, Paulo Lins’ novel is packed with action and passion.

City of God (“Cidade de Deus”) takes the reader to the heart of a famous favela in Rio de Janeiro. With the same keen observation that fuelled Richard Price’s Clockers, Lins explores the lives of its most intriguing and influential inhabitants, the gangsters. From the soccer fields to drug deals, from the sunny beaches to the violent fights, Lins follows the many stories of his young, brave and cruel characters. In a vivid, striking prose, Lins combines his knowledge of the favelas with an insider’s understanding. Both frightening and exhilarating, Paulo Lins’ story is alive with tension. Published in 1997, Cidade de Deus has been a bestseller for years. In May 2002 the film City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles, was shown in Cannes with great success and obtained great reviews (Variety, Libération, Financial Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel).

The witch named Janet is back. This time she plans to take her revenge on the creatures of the sea. After all, she recently choked on a fish bone, and it made her mad. So, she calls her lizard sidekick, Maynard, and sets off on a wicked, new quest.

This rhyming storybook uses fun and playful language to describe exploding volcanoes and truckfuls of garbage. But nature has a way of getting its own revenge. Crabs, rats and cockroaches arrive to foil her plan, and when she falls into the ocean, her lack of swimming skills come back to haunt her. The language is fun and silly, but the story is serious. We have to take care of our oceans.

Janet the Witch and the Planet’s Oceans (“A Bruxa Loreta contra os mares do planeta”) will bring environmental topics closer to elementary readers and inspire new ways of thinking about caring for our planet.

Janet the Witch is a book series suitable for readers aged 6 and up.

Janet the witch has grand plans. She wants to wipe out the forests with their flora and fauna and strip nature down to its core. Her first attempt wasn’t completely successful, what with being chased by Capybaras and attacked by wasps.
The narrative in rhymes will engage children from the very first page of Janet the Witch (“A Bruxa Loreta”) and get them involved in thinking about the environment.

Janet the Witch is a book series suitable for readers aged 6 and up.

In the heart of the forest is Apuá, where rivers follow unpredictable paths and time seems to obey its own laws, a village on the edge of the world that harbours memories, loves and secrets. It is there that ten-year-old Tonho grew up listening to the stories that his grandfather Dorival told him about the river, its currents and its mysteries. He learned that the river bears witness to the memory of time and that life, like the currents, is made up of comings and goings. When Dorival dies and Tonho sees his world crumble, a vase of earth is his legacy. Trying to find out about its meaning, talking to the villagers, Tonho finds out about his roots and a big quarrel between Dorival and his best friend, which led to a family feud. Falling in love with Amarílis, he overcomes the old dispute. Together, Tonho and Amarílis find their own place, planting new seeds. And if the end is just a beginning?

With her affectionate, fluid and unforgettable writing, in After the End (“Depois do Fim”) Flávia Lins e Silva tells a story about farewells, unexpected reunions and the beauty of living.

After the End is a book suitable for readers aged 10 and up.

Lina has been stuck at home for a long time, without being able to see her grandmother and her friends. Her grandmother gives her a recipe on how to attract milufas. These enchanted beings are more agile than fairies, more playful than gnomes and like everything that is fun and colourful. They spread a little magic dust all over the world when you want to hug someone who is far away, and they will help Lina to feel less lonely.
Milufas at the Window (“Milufas na Janela”) features beautiful illustrations by Mariana Massarani and is suitable for ages 8 and up.

There are many socks, but terribly smelly like this… there is only one! Who could it belong to? One of the residents in Matilde‘s building? She, a six-year-old girl, and Chouriço, her faithful dog, are going to find out who owns this stinky sock. The Mystery of the Stinky Sock (“O Mistério da Meia Malcheirosa”) is a wonderful race of words through colours. A mysterious and amusing book about a neighbourhood full of quirks and magic.

There are days when it seems everything happens! So say Matilde and her inseparable companion Chouriço. One day, they go out to play in the park and, inevitably, the little girl gets hurt. She quickly puts a plaster on her knee to „treat“ the wound. There’s nothing plasters cannot cure. They help to hide the pain and soon everything goes away. – Through an amusing story, with images that are fun for children, With Plasters Everything Will Be All Right (“Com Pensos Tudo Passa”) teaches the parts of the body and the precautions needed while playing.

Sofia, a 12-year-old girl who is worried about the challenges faced by our planet, decides to write a letter to the leaders of the world. In a good-natured and poetic style, Sofia writes about a variety of questions, attempting to diagnose what is wrong with the planet. She knows that there are many problems that could have sent the world to the ICU. But she is a dreamer, and she offers solutions. Open Letter to the Leaders of the World (“Carta aos Líderes do Mundo”) seeks to give a voice to the children who know the Earth is screaming out for help.

English book trailer: https://teloseditora.com.br/

Pilar is a lively ten-year-old girl with a wonderfully vivid imagination. She lives in Rio de Janeiro with her mother and her cat Samba. Together with her best friend Breno, Pilar likes to escape her everyday troubles – in her magic hammock, which takes her to exotic and strange places all over the world. Taking up contemporary issues seen through the eyes of a curious and ingenious girl,the beautifully written Pilar series will charm both young readers and adults alike.

Pilar loves exploring the world, but this time the trip has a special flavour: In Pilar Goes to Mexico (“Diário de Pilar no México”) a letter reveals that she has a grandmother in Mexico! Surprised and full of questions, she embarks with Breno and Samba in the magic hammock towards Mexico City. What she doesn’t realise is that, as well as meeting her family, she will be involved in a great mystery.

In the updated version of Pilar Goes to the Amazon. New Edition. Urgent (“Diário de Pilar na Amazônia. Nova Edição. Urgente”), our young hero Pilar, a lively ten-year-old girl with a wonderfully vivid imagination, travels to the rain forest with her friend Breno and her cat Samba to defend it from a group of “mateiros”, who are cutting down trees to sell them illegally and transform the “clean” area into a meadow for cattle. Along with local friends Maiara and Bira, they pursue the outlaws until they bring down the gang who is destroying and burning the forest.

In  Pilar Goes to India (“Diário de Pilar na Índia”), Pilar, Breno and the cat Samba set off to India in search of self-knowledge, but this won‘t be just an inspirational trip. Right at the beginning of their journey, the friends meet Kamala, a young Bollywood actress looking for her brother, and together they undertake a long journey of incredible discoveries about the culture, the cuisine, and the spiritual and philosophical aspects of this fascinating country that is India. They get to know the Taj Mahal, the river Ganges and even the Dalai Lama in Dharmasala. Between yoga and meditation classes, they are enchanted by the teachings of Buddha and learn the story of Gandhi. But the most important question is kept to the end: will Pilar finally find her father this time?

In Pilar Goes to China (“Diário de Pilar na China”), Pilar, her friend Breno and the cat Samba meet a girl called Fang Fang and together they try to save her family and her city, which was flooded when the Black Dragon’s fury stirred up the waters of the river. Along the way, Pilar also finds clues about the whereabouts of her father.

In Pilar Goes to Africa (“Diário de Pilar na África”), Pilar goes back to the past and arrives in The North of West Africa in the 18th century. She finds out that many local families are being arrested and sold as slaves. Pilar and Breno become friends with Funmilola, whose parents are missing. Together, they decide to travel to the South by elephant, zebra, and boat, looking for Funmi’s parents. On their way, they discover local food and local stories, but they also fight along with Queen Jinga and end up imprisoned in a slave ship. The ship takes them to Bahia, Brazil, the destination of many of the slaves in those days. Will they be able to escape and find Funmi’s parents?

In Pilar Goes to Machu Picchu (“Diário de Pilar em Machu Picchu”), Pilar travels to the sacred site of the ancient Inca to save her cat Samba from being sacrificed to the sun god Inti. Along the way, Pilar makes the acquaintance of a lama and reunites a new friend with her long-lost parents.

In Pilar Goes to Egypt (“Diário de Pilar no Egito”), Pilar uses her magic hammock to escape from some trouble at school to Ancient Egypt. There she and her friends meet the boy Tutankhamun, who has been buried alive by his enemies. Embarking on an adventure to get back his throne, they learn a lot about the land and its fascinating culture, for example how papyrus was discovered. And Pilar even learns to write in hieroglyphics so she can protect her diary from prying eyes. Taking an interest in topics like gender equality and alphabetisation, this unusual and loveable character carries us straight into the world of the Egyptian gods.

In Pilar Goes to Greece (“Diário de Pilar na Grécia”), Pilar’s Grandpa Pedro leaves for Greece. In his wardrobe, Pilar finds a note he left her, together with a magic hammock. When she and Samba climb into it, they suddenly find themselves on a beautiful beach. Together they embark on incredible adventures and delve deep into the myths and legends of Ancient Greece. Writing in simple and endearing language, Flávia Lins e Silva manages to look straight into children’s hearts. Joana Penna’s illustrations turn the book into a real diary and a true treasure trove for any adventurous girl or boy.

Lins e Silva’s book Pilar’s Journey Notebook (“Caderno de Viagens de Pilar”) gives the reader the chance to create their own personal travel diary, writing and drawing and inventing along the way. With the help of Pilar, who is already a real expert in the field, everyone can get to know new cultures, learn new words and make new friends all over the globe. And become masters of the imagination.

In her crossover novel Mururu on the Amazon (“Mururu no Amazonas”), a tiny boat is cruising down the Amazon. On board is the girl Dorinha, who knows all the river’s secrets. Then she meets Piú, a boy who tastes of fruits, and water and earth come together. Piú joins her on her journey, but when he falls ill, only getting back to land can save him … The rhythm of this enchanting story follows the movement of the water, telling about the magic of first love.

Before Naming the World (“Antes de Dar Nomes ao Mundo”) is the fifth volume of poetry by Adriana Lisboa. The verses contemplate the passing of time, the transience of experience and the ethics of relationships between humans and non-humans, themes present in previous poetic and fictional works by the writer from Rio de Janeiro.

According to Edimilson de Almeida Parra, in his book jacket text: “In a historical period beset by abandonment and violence, Before Naming the World sounds like a book of wisdom; it refuses eloquence and dogmatism in order to valorise with the relevance of the self-critical subject. It’s no coincidence that in ‘Variations on a Theme by Li Po’, the poet reminds us of the risk inherent in what exists, including language and knowledge – ‘all this speech of mine/consigned to the ground’. Aware that ‘to exist is a signal of less’ and also jubilant at blossoming of meaning, Adriana Lisboa foreshadows a certain beauty to be understood and perhaps named.”

In The Large Carnivores (“Os Grandes Carnívoros”), Adriana Lisboa guides the reader through the restless thoughts and memories of Adelaide, an ex-convict and activist who finds herself confronted with the brutality of human relationships. Adelaide was a member of a group of animal rights activists and ended up getting involved in an extreme protest action, setting fire to a research laboratory in the United States. After three years in prison, she returns to Brazil. Looking for a fresh start, she moves to a small town in the mountains near Rio, where she meets Rai – the kind owner of the furnished house she rents – and his family. Alternating between Adelaide’s journey and the uncertainties of the new bonds that she forms, Adriana Lisboa weaves a subtle and powerful narrative about the fragility and violence that lurk in the most sensitive relationships, and points to the often arbitrary way in which certain aggressions are condemned and others normalised – including, here, human conduct towards other animal species.

All the Time that Exists (“Todo o Tempo que Existe”) is an autobiographical essay, Adriana Lisboa’s first foray into this genre. Starting with the loss of her father in 2021 and going back to the loss of her mother seven years earlier, the author reflects more widely on topics such as memory, oblivion, transience, and also the relationship between the “I” and the “other”, all set against the backdrop of the Botanical Gardens of Rio de Janeiro with a special look at the kingdom of plants. Her relationship with writing and art are also featured, as well as conversations with authors she values. As the writer Rosa Montero describes the work: “To reach a true understanding with life, it is necessary to reach an agreement with death: with one’s own death and that of the loved ones. That’s what Adriana Lisboa does in this beautiful and moving book, exploring the cut with which we all have to measure ourselves.”

All Saints in Rio de Janeiro, a hot Sunday afternoon. Mauro, a nine year-old boy, suffers a shock in a swimming pool and dies before anyone can help him. As they grow up, his sister Vanessa and his schoolmate André begin a relationship that soon surpasses friendship. They start a life together, but a shadow follows them: a secret kept by André’s sister, Isabel, who is also in love with Vanessa. Decades after the accident, in an act of desperate revenge, she reveals that it was André who pushed Mauro into the pool.
Alone now, working as biologist in New Zealand, Vanessa is an outsider wherever she goes. Revisiting her memories from an almost mythical Rio, she knows she is eternally linked to André. But can she remake her love story with him? Written in poetic and precise language, All Saints (“Todos os Santos”) is a brilliant novel about regret and loss, and about forgiveness.

When David discovers that he has terminal brain cancer, he decides to put his affairs in order. Then he meets Alex, a young mother who had an affair with a married man, and his fast-dwindling life gets a new sense of purpose. As the two of them slowly get closer, they learn that they are both descendants of immigrants: Alex’s grandmother and mother come from Vietnam, David’s parents are from Mexico and Brazil. While David, not wanting to die in Chicago, makes plans for his last journey to Hanói, the place where Alex’s mother was born, Alex in turn still hopes for a miracle. In her characteristic poetic style, Adriana Lisboa insightfully takes up the topic of the finiteness of life and how people deal with it, creating a moving story with very real characters.

In her novel Crow-Blue (“Azul-Corvo”), Adriana Lisboa tells an unusual road-story about growing-up and the search for one’s roots, simultaneously allowing for an intriguing glimpse at the life of the Brazilian guerillas. When her mother dies, thirteen-year-old Vanja moves to her stepfather in the US, an ex-guerilla from Brazil where he gained a reputation for being a relentless fighter. There she goes looking for her biological father, following her mother’s footsteps and finding out who she really is. The novel has been longlisted for the International Impac Dublin Literary Award 2015.

Symphony in White (“Sinfonia em Branco”), the internationally-acclaimed novel by prize-winning Brazilian author Adriana Lisboa, follows the journeys – literal, chronological, and metaphysical – of two sisters raised in the apparently tranquil backlands of Brazil in the sixties and educated in teeming Rio de Janeiro in the seventies. Sisters who share dark secrets that affect every step of their way as they finally face their past so that they might at last embrace their future. It is the moving story that covers four decades of a family where ugly truths are kept hidden, secret, unspoken, paralleling the years of the Brazilian dictatorship when everyone knew that atrocities were being committed, but no one dared speak of them. As the complex but seemingly simple narrative shifts back and forth in space and time, each new revelation imparts added dimensions and more depth to the characters as well as to the narrative, which little by little builds up to unveil astonishing revelations and a shattering climax. But Symphony in white is much more than compelling storytelling or a novel of Brazilian manners and culture. Lisboa also makes numerous references to music and art throughout the novel, which in itself is not unlike a symphony where each character’s storyline represents a different instrument of a symphonic score, resulting in a dramatic and powerful work of great beauty and harmony. Add to that the pure pleasure of Lisboa’s eloquent metaphors, her lyrical, poetic prose, and her unexpected word choices, which allow the reader to examine the dark abysses of the human soul within a framework as delicate as the flight of a butterfly. Like all great literature, Symphony in White is a book of universal appeal that transcends all geographic borders.

In Rakushisha Adriana Lisboa invites us to discover, alongside her characters, the simplicity and beauty of the poetry of Matsuo Basho, a pioneer of the Haikai style: the art of saying the most possible with the minimum of words. Rakushisha is a journey to Japan seen through the eyes of two Brazilians: Haruki and Celina.

Starting from a fleeting encounter in a metro station in Rio de Janeiro, where both live, they end up taking their furthest ever trip from home: they travel together to Japan. Due to the isolation caused by the cultural diffence, this adventure ultimately becomes an interior journey, a journey to the untouched feelings and secrets of each one. Through the alternate narration of Haruki and Celina emerge Basho’s haikais, and thus the reader discovers Basho’s translator in Brazil is Haruki’s great unrequited love, and that Celina’s sad eyes conceal a great tragedy in her life. Rakushisha is a delicate novel, to be grasped with both hands, as the Japonese hold their objects.

In Colombine’s Kiss (“Um Beijo de Colombina”) Teresa, a talented writer from Rio de Janeiro, has rented a house near the beach, where she spends her days writing or sleeping, and at the end of the afternoon she goes out to swim in the sea. One day, Teresa does not return, and her body is not found. Back in the house, her boyfriend was waiting for her, finding a poem by the great Brazilian poet, Manuel Bandeira: ‘In the waves of the beach, in the waves of the sea, I want to be happy, I want to drown’. Colombine’s Kiss is narrated by him, and, as if to put his feelings in order, he dives into the universe she left behind, thus getting to know better the woman he lived with and coming to understand his feelings for her. ‘Love is a million small things’ is a line that appears in this novel and sums it up perfectly. The narration is light of touch and sensitive, patient and free of anguish. The final chapter of the book has a surprise in store for the reader, shedding a new light on all that has gone before, enclosing one fiction within another.

On the seashore, a mermaid and a butterfly catcher fall in love. So goes the story The Mermaid and the Butterfly Catcher (“A Sereia e o Ccaçador de Borboletas“) about this one magic meeting, because the butterfly catcher, who in fact was never hunting butterflies but just observing and admiring them, does not know how to swim or fly, and the mermaid cannot leave the water. The destiny of some Portuguese sailors, who have been on a voyage for three hundred years, depends on a repeat meeting between the mermaid and the butterfly catcher. Fortunately, they do meet up again, because a butterfly has taught the butterfly catcher to fly, so enabling he and the mermaid to meet once more, at which point the sailors consider their sea voyage to be over.

A moving and poetic novel about the fragility of people’s destiny, The Heart Sometimes Stops Beating (“O Coração às Vezes Para de Bater”) is the unburdening of a 15-year-old boy who writes letters to a hospitalized friend. Coming from different social backgrounds, the two are cariocas of Rio de Janeiro and share a passion for skateboarding. In short, fast and precise flashes, the protagonist makes an inventory of the joys and sorrows of a teenager today, including difficulties with his family, social relations, and the discovery of love in a city like Rio de Janeiro.

In 1977, Loredano moved to Germany and worked for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Zeit until 1981, when he went to live in Italy and France, working for La Repubblica, Il Globo, Libération and the MagazineLittéraire. After spending just one year (1983) in Brazil, he moved back to Europe once again, first to Zürich, then to Barcelona. It was in 1986 when Loredano first drew his unmistakable charges for El País. His caricatures of celebrities for the literary supplement Babelia are most distinctive. In 1993 Loredano returned to Brazil for good. He now lives in Rio de Janeiro and works for large dailies such as the Estado de S. Paulo and other national and international press. So far two books have been published, Caricaturas in 1994 and Alfabeto Literário in 2002. Today he is considered to be Brazil’s most famous and original draughtsman of caricatures and the large number of fans and admirers in his country, as well as abroad, only proves that.