As Lord begins, a Brazilian author is arriving at London's Heathrow
airport for reasons he doesn't fully understand. Only aware that he has
been invited to take part in a mysterious mission, the Brazilian starts
to churn with anxiety. Torn between returning home and continuing boldly
forward, he becomes absorbed by fears: What if the Englishman who
invited him here proves malign? Maybe he won't show up? Or maybe he'll
leave the Brazilian lost and adrift in London, with no money or place to
stay? Ever more confused and enmeshed in a reality of his own making,
the Brazilian wanders more and more through London's immigrant Hackney
neighborhood, losing his memory, adopting strange behaviors,
experiencing surreal sexual encounters, and developing a powerful fear
of ever seeing himself reflected in a mirror.
A novel about the unsettling space between identities, and a disturbing
portrait of dementia from the inside out, Lord constructs an
altogether original story out of the ways we search for new versions of
ourselves. With jaw-dropping scenes and sensual, at times grotesque
images, renowned Brazilian author João Gilberto Noll grants us stunning
new visions of our own personalities and the profound transformations
that overtake us throughout life.