Frances de Pontes Peebles

"[A] glorious, glittery saga of friendship and loss... I read The Air You Breathe in two nights. (One might say I inhaled it.)." --NPR "Echoes of Elena Ferrante resound in this sumptuous saga."--O, The Oprah Magazine "Enveloping...Peebles understands the shifting currents of female friendship, and she writes so vividly about samba that you close the book certain its heroine's voices must exist beyond the page." -People The story of an intense female friendship fueled by affection, envy and pride--and each woman's fear that she would be nothing without the other. Some friendships, like romance, have the feeling of fate. Skinny, nine-year-old orphaned Dores is working in the kitchen of a sugar plantation in 1930s Brazil when in walks a girl who changes everything. Graça, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy sugar baron, is clever, well fed, pretty, and thrillingly ill behaved. Born to wildly different worlds, Dores and Graça quickly bond over shared mischief, and then, on a deeper level, over music. One has a voice like a songbird; the other feels melodies in her soul and composes lyrics to match. Music will become their shared passion, the source of their partnership and their rivalry, and for each, the only way out of the life to which each was born. But only one of the two is destined to be a star. Their intimate, volatile bond will determine each of their fortunes--and haunt their memories. Traveling from Brazil's inland sugar plantations to the rowdy streets of Rio de Janeiro's famous Lapa neighborhood, from Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood back to the irresistible drumbeat of home, The Air You Breathe unfurls a moving portrait of a lifelong friendship--its unparalleled rewards and lasting losses--and considers what we owe to the relationships that shape our lives.

A Novel

The Air You Breathe

"The story of an intense female friendship fueled by admiration and affection, envy and pride -- and each woman's fear that she would be nothing without the other" --

a novel

The air you breathe

As seamstresses, the young sisters Emília and Luzia dos Santos know how to cut, how to mend, and how to conceal. These are useful skills in the lawless backcountry of Brazil, where ruthless land barons called "colonels" feud with bands of outlaw cangaceiros, trapping innocent residents in the cross fire. Emília, whose knowledge of the world comes from fashion magazines and romance novels, dreams of falling in love with a gentleman and escaping to a big city. Luzia also longs to escape their little town, where residents view her with suspicion and pity. Scarred by a childhood accident that left her with a deformed arm, the quick-tempered Luzia finds her escape in sewing and in secret prayers to the saints she believes once saved her life. But when Luzia is abducted by a group of cangaceiros led by the infamous Hawk, the sisters' quiet lives diverge in ways they never imagined. Emília stumbles into marriage with Degas Coelho, the son of a doctor whose wealth is rivaled only by his political power. She moves to the sprawling seaside city of Recife, where the glamour of her new life is soon overshadowed by heartache and loneliness. Luzia, forced to trek through scrubland and endure a nomadic existence, proves her determination to survive and begins to see the cangaceiros as comrades, not criminals. In Recife, Emília must hide any connection to her increasingly notorious sister. As she learns to navigate the treacherous waters of Brazilian high society, Emília sees the country split apart after a bitter presidential election. Political feuds extend to the countryside, where Luzia and the Hawk are forced to make unexpected alliances and endure betrayals that threaten to break the cangaceiros apart. But Luzia will overcome time and distance to entrust her sister with a great secret—one Emília vows to keep. And when Luzia's life is threatened, Emília will risk everything to save her. An enthralling novel of love and courage, loyalty and adventure, that brings to life a faraway time and place, The Seamstress is impeccably drawn, rich in depth and vision, and heralds the arrival of a supremely talented new writer.

The Seamstress

L'air que tu respires

Twee Braziliaanse tienermeisjes, met verschillende sociale achtergrond maar allebei zonder geld, kennis en ervaring, zijn vastbesloten om in het Rio van 1935 carrière in de muziek te gaan maken.

Dochters van de samba

De gezusters Emília en Luzia dos Santos, opgegroeid in een dorpje in het noorden van Brazilië, zijn heel verschillend van aard en al vroeg scheiden zich hun wegen. De romantische Emília trouwt met de zoon van de rijke Dr. Duarte Coelho uit Recife. De temperamentvolle Luzia sluit zich aan bij de 'cangaceiros', een bende revolutionairen die strijdt tegen de uitbuiting door machtige grootgrondbezitters en voor sociale hervormingen. Wanneer Luzia trouwt met hun leider Antonio, bijgenaamd de Havik, komt haar leven steeds meer in gevaar. Emília's leven in de grote stad wordt overschaduwd door innig verdriet en eenzaamheid. Ze weet dat ze haar zus Luzia waarschijnlijk nooit meer zal zien, maar ontwikkelt een indirecte manier om met haar te communiceren. Dan vertrouwt Luzia haar een groot geheim toe.

De naaister van Pernambuco

A HISTÓRIA DE DUAS MULHERES E DE UMA INTENSA AMIZADE ALIMENTADA POR AMOR, INVEJA E ORGULHO – E PELO MEDO DE AMBAS DE NÃO SER NINGUÉM SEM A OUTRA. Frances de Pontes Peebles também é autora de Entre irmãs, que foi traduzido para nove idiomas e recebeu os prêmios Elle Grand Prix for Fiction, o Friends of American Writers Award e o Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. Além disso, foi adaptado para o cinema pela Conspiração Filmes e para a TV pela Rede Globo, em formato de minissérie. "Ecos de Elena Ferrante ressoam nesta saga esplêndida." – O, The Oprah Magazine "Uma obra-prima. Frances Peebles é uma mestra da tensão dramática, da intriga e da linguagem – e uma habilidosa observadora da intimidade humana." – Lambda Literary Nascida na miséria e órfã de mãe, Das Dores trabalha na cozinha de um grande engenho de açúcar em Pernambuco, nos anos 1930. Um dia, a chegada de uma menina muda tudo. Graça, a filha mimada do novo senhor da fazenda, é esperta, bem alimentada, bonita – e encantadoramente malcomportada. Vindas de mundos tão diferentes, elas constroem uma amizade que nasce das travessuras em dupla, floresce em seu amor pela música e marca para sempre sua vida e seu destino. Quando não conseguem suportar o que o futuro no engenho lhes reserva, elas fogem para o Rio de Janeiro em busca de uma carreira como divas do rádio. Mas só uma está destinada a se tornar uma estrela. À outra restam os bastidores, longe das atenções e do reconhecimento do público. Começando no Nordeste e passando pelas ruas da Lapa, no Rio de Janeiro, e pela Los Angeles da Era de Ouro hollywoodiana, Tempo de Graça, Tempo de Dor é o comovente retrato de uma amizade inabalável, marcada pelo orgulho, pela rivalidade e pelo ressentimento. Escrito em forma de memórias, conta as alegrias e o lado sombrio do relacionamento de duas mulheres que encontram na música, e às vezes uma na outra, o sentido da própria existência.

Frances de Pontes Peebles

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