The Words That Remain

For decades Raimundo has kept a letter from Cicero, the love of his youth, that he has never been able to read: growing up in a poor rural part of Brazil, where manual labour came first, he never learned how. As young men the two fell in love, and Raimundo’s father beat him brutally when he found out. Raimundo went on to make a life in the city, still haunted by the letter.

Now, as an old man, he is finally learning to read. It is Stênio Gardel’s first novel, translated into English by Bruna Dantas Lobato.