A new translation of brilliant stories by Man Booker-finalist and author of Confession of the Lioness.
PRAISE FOR MIA COUTO
"Mia Couto's stories of civilisation and barbarity are told through a language that is precise and profound; he weaves together the living tradition of legend, poetry and song." -International Man Booker shortlist jury citation
"On almost every page ? we sense Couto's delight in those places where language slips officialdom's asphyxiating grasp."-The New York Times
"[Couto is] a brilliant aphorist. There are countless sentences that ? have the weight and wisdom of ancient proverbs." -The Wall Street Journal
"Even in translation, his prose is suffused with striking images."-The Washington Post
"Couto's narrative tone, at once deadpan and beguiling, and his virtuoso management of time place him alongside the best Latin American magic realists." -Times Literary Supplement
"Quite unlike anything else I have read from Africa."-Doris Lessing
Mia Couto, long regarded as one of the leading writers in Mozambique, has now been recognized as one of the greatest living writers in the Portuguese language ? [He] cracks open a welcoming window onto a vast world of literary pleasures that has for too long remained under the radar in the English-speaking world."-Philip Graham, The Millions