Novel
Chuva Braba
Not translated into English
Manuel Lopes · 1956
Synopsis
Mané Quim farms a dry plot on Santo Antão with his mother and waits for rain that does not come. His godfather, back rich from Brazil, offers to take him along: over there the land is rich and water plentiful. The boy says yes, prepares to leave, bids farewell to his family. Then the sky changes just when it is time to go, and the downpour no one expected any more falls on the fields.
Context
The book appeared in 1956 in Lisbon, from the Institute of Culture and Development of Cape Verde, three hundred and ten pages, under a cover and illustrations drawn by the author, who was also a painter. He called it a novela and not a novel, and the term appears on the volume. The same year, the general agency for the overseas territories, a Portuguese colonial administration, awarded it its prize. A second edition appeared in Lisbon in 1964, and the National Library of Cape Verde reissued it in 2018, more than sixty years later.
Who it is for
A narrative in Portuguese, not translated into French. Russian, Ukrainian and English versions have existed since 1972, 1977 and 1996.
Prizes and reception
Awarded the colonial administration's Fernão Mendes Pinto prize in 1956, it has become a school classic of the independent archipelago.