A small village in the south of Portugal becomes Jerusalem thanks to one girl’s love for her grandmother, whose final wish is to see the Holy Land.

A master “parallel to himself”, an English woman who sleeps inside a whale, a girl who reads westerns and believes her mother has been replaced by the Virgin Mary – these are some of the characters making up this heartbreaking, ironic tale about the ability to change people as well as life’s fundamental principles.

BEST NOVEL OF 2012 BY THE READERS OF THE NEWSPAPER PÚBLICO
BEST PORTUGUESE NOVEL OF THE YEAR BY TIME OUT LISBON
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

 

“Afonso Cruz is one of the strongest voices in contemporary Portuguese literature”. Antonio Sáez Delgado, El País

“Afonso Cruz amuses and touches us with irony, offering a comedy on the most important things in life: love, sacrifice and… beer”. Stefania Parmeggiani, La Repubblica

 

248 pages – Original Language: Portuguese (Alfaguara, 2012). Rights sold to: Arabic (Masciliana), Brazil (Companhia das Letras), Canada (Les Allusifs), Greece (Eurasia), Italy (La Nuova Frontiera), Serbia (Cigoja Starnpa), Spanish (Alfaguara).