Lídia Jorge: O Vento Assobiando nas Gruas (The Wind Whistling in the Cranes)

The latest addition to my website is Lídia Jorge‘s Vento Assobiando nas Gruas (The Wind Whistling in the Cranes). The Leandro family have owned a canning factory in the Algarve since 1908 with a ten year gap from 1975 when it was given to the workers following the Carnation Revolution. The factory is no longer used as a factory but is the home of an extended Cape Verdean immigrant family, the Matos. The Leandro matriarch, Regina, somehow escapes from an ambulance and makes her way to the Factory where she dies. All her family are away except for Milene (thirty in years and fifteen in age according to her aunt). The plot revolves around Milene’s relationship with the Matos, her family wondering what to do about her and also their attempt to to take back the factory to sell it to a developer. Racism, drug dealing, corruption and shady deals all feature as Jorge tells us a long and complicated story.

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