Description

Moises lives with his father, Mundinho, and his sister, Luzia, in Tapera do Paraguacu, a Brazilian village of farmers, fishermen, and potters of Afro-Indigenous origin, ruled from on high by a forbidding monastery. As Luzia hears whispers about her own strange powers and absorbs the threatening stares of neighbors, she seeks protection from the same Church that exploits her. When secrets buried for decades rise to the surface, Luzia finds herself alone, fighting for her piece of land, for her place in the world. Little does she know that Moises, in his own way, has put himself on the front line of an ancient battle between the oppressors and the dispossessed.

Epic and lyrical, with the power to both enchant and outrage the reader, Saving the Fire shows us that the ghosts of a family’s past are often indistinguishable from the shadows of a nation’s history. Masterfully, Itamar Vieira Junior blends the intimate journeys of his characters with faithfully rendered elements of Brazilian life. It’s a story permeated by the spectre of colonialism, the scars of which still show, and still ache.

Publisher Review

A leading voice among the Black authors who have jolted Brazil's literary establishment in recent years with imaginative and searing works that have found commercial success and critical acclaim * New York Times * An important literary voice * Financial Times * Vieira Junior has been an integral member of a group of Brazilian writers who, in depicting racism and slavery through the viewpoint of racial minorities and enslaved peoples, remind us of Brazil's painful colonial history while returning agency to those who suffered under its one-sided narration * Nation * I am immersed in Saving the Fire, and I can hardly wait for the finale of Vieira's trilogy * New York Review of Books *