Brazilian Literature in Translation Series – serie

Eden-Brazil is an ecotourism destination and nature reserve in a stunning swath of beach-lined, coastal rainforest. Inspired by the paradisiacal setting and the idea of providing visitors with the ultimate return to nature, they decide to stage the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, complete with Adam, Eve, the snake, the apple, the works. However, re-creating an earthly paradise as something beyond a roadside attraction is no easy feat. In this charming, tragicomic tale of compromised environmentalism, Moacyr Scliar employs his signature humor and talent for crisp storytelling while weaving together a playfully serious parable of environmentalist ideals that clash with the realities of local politics, global consumer culture, and competing visions of authentic nature.

Based upon the author's own experiences of life, exile, and return under the dictatorship that gripped Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s, Freedom Sun in the Tropics follows Lena, a journalist, as she resists violence and political repression, and decides to flee to Paris. Upon her eventual return, Lena soon discovers that the dictatorship's prison walls have enclosed private lives and hold strong even after the collapse of authoritarianism. With friendship, truth, and family broken, she struggles to make the difficult return to freedom and regain a sense of life -- and simple decency -- on the other side of trauma. Originally published in 1988, Ana Maria Machado's novel vividly captures one of the darkest periods in recent Brazilian history.