A General Theory of Oblivion

Literature & Fiction

Agualusa, Jose-Eduardo

Contemporary

Vintage

As the country goes through various political upheavals from colony to socialist republic to civil war to peace and capitalism, the world outside seeps into Ludo's life through snippets on the radio, voices from next door, glimpses of someone peeing on a balcony, or a man fleeing his pursuers. A General Theory of Oblivion is a perfectly crafted, wild patchwork of a novel, playing on a love of storytelling and fable.

Literary

Archipelago

Ingenious, consistently taut and witty' TLS 'Humorous and quizzical, with a light touch on weighty themes, the narrative darts about with lizard-like colour and velocity' Independent 'Strange, elliptical, charming' Guardian 'A poetic, beguiling meditation on truth and storytelling . . . from the dreamscapes of magical realism to a gripping political thriller and even a murder mystery' New Internationalist Félix Ventura trades in memories, a slippery character selling new pasts to people whose bright futures lack only a good lineage, and wiping clean the slate of their identity. In a narrative that darts between past and present Angola, a bookish albino man, a beautiful woman, a mysterious foreigner and a witty talking lizard come together to discover their real origins. For theirs is a world where the truth seems to shift from moment to moment and where history itself is up for grabs . . . WINNER OF THE&nbsp;INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE 'A work of fierce originality' Independent 'Without doubt one of the most important Portuguese-language writers of his generation' ANTÓNIO LOBO ANTUNES 'Cross J. M. Coetzee with Gabriel García Márquez and you've got José Eduardo Agualusa' ALAN KAUFMAN Translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn

The Book of Chameleons

Arcadia Books

The Society of Reluctant Dreamers

HARVILL/SECKER

As he travels across three continents, Portuguese adventurer Fradique Mendez bears witness to the end of the Portuguese slave trade, and meets and falls in love with Anna Olimpia, a former slave girl.

Creole

This unusual novel about the landscape of memory and its inconsistencies follows Felix Ventura as he trades in a curious commodityhe sells people different pasts. He can create entirely new pasts full of better memories and complete with new lineage or augment existing pasts as needed. Narrated by an exceptionally articulate and rather friendly lizard that lives on Felix’s living-room wall, this richly detailed story explores how people can remember things that never happenedand with extraordinary vividnesseven as they forget things that did in fact occur.

Arcadia Books Ltd

Creole paints a vivid and dramatic picture of a decadent social order in tatters. Extraordinary characters, real and fictional, look on as their world collapses.

Genre Fiction

My Father's Wives

United States

Longlisted for the 2009 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. When the celebrated Angolan musician Faustino Manso dies, his youngest daughter Laurentina journeys to Angola to trace the story of the father she never knew. Setting out to find the 7 wives and 18 children he left scattered across southern Africa, the fictional account of Laurentina's journey runs parallel with the author's chronicle of the novel's genesis. As the characters and their creator travel the southern African coast-from Angola through Namibia and South Africa to Mozambique-they meet extraordinary people and, along the way, discover Faustino's secrets. Long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, this beguiling story heralds the rebirth of Africa, a continent beset by adversity but blessed with musical riches, the ever-renewed strength of its women, and the secret powers of ancient gods.

Hahn, Daniel

In this depiction of the devastating history of a country tormented by 30 years of conflict, a journalist investigates the mysterious disappearance of Angolan poetess and historian Lidia do Carmo Ferreira, who vanished from Luanda as the civil war flared up with unprecedented ferocity when the rebel movement refused to accept defeat in the country's first democratic election. A fictive biography of Ferreira's life, this tangled mesh of fact and fiction uses the disillusionment of its two protagonists to re-create the disappointment of an entire nation in turmoil. A careful translation of one of the strongest writers in the Portuguese language today, this novel portrays the agony of a country's struggle for independence.

Rainy Season

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Agualusa, Jose-Eduardo. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Agualusa, Jose-Eduardo

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Agualusa, Jose-Eduardo. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A General Theory of Oblivion

A General Theory of Oblivion

The Book of Chameleons

The Society of Reluctant Dreamers

Creole

The Book of Chameleons

Creole

My Father's Wives

My Father's Wives

Rainy Season