With the grand sweep of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, this
enduring tale transports us to a picturesque seaside town haunted by its
colonial past.
Considered one of Europe's most influential contemporary writers,
Portuguese novelist Lídia Jorge has captivated international audiences
for decades. With the publication of The Wind Whistling in the Cranes,
English-speaking readers can now experience the thrum of her signature
poetic style and her delicately braided multicharacter plotlines, and
witness the heroic journey of one of the most maddening, and endearing,
characters in literary fiction.
Exquisitely translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Annie McDermott, this
breathtaking saga, set in the now-distant 1990s, tells the story of the
landlords and tenants of a derelict canning factory in southern
Portugal. The wealthy, always-scheming Leandros have owned the building
since before the Carnation Revolution, a peaceful coup that toppled a
four-decade-long dictatorship and led to Portugal's withdrawal from its
African colonies. It was Leandro matriarch Dona Regina who handed the
keys to the Matas, the bustling family from Cape Verde who saw past the
dusty machinery and converted the space into a warm--and
welcoming--home.
When Dona Regina is found dead outside the factory on a holiday weekend,
her body covered in black ants, her granddaughter, Milene, investigates.
Aware that her aunts and uncles, who are off on vacation, will berate
her inability to articulate what has just happened, she approaches the
factory riddled with anxiety. Hours later, the Matas return home to find
this strange girl hiding behind their clotheslines, and with caution,
they take her in . . .
"Some said that Milene had been found wandering near the golf course. .
. . Still others that she must have spent those five days at the beach,
eating raw fish and sleeping out in the open . . ."
Days later, the Leandros realize that Milene has become hopelessly
entangled with their tenants, and their fear of political and financial
ruin sets off a series of events that threatens to uproot the lives of
everyone involved. Narrated with passionate, incandescent prose, The
Wind Whistling in the Cranes establishes Lídia Jorge as a novelist of
extraordinary international resonance.
