Amid a landscape of rubble, skeletal figures, and helplessness in Europe post-World War II, a girl and a man wander among the ruins.
Hanna, a 12-year-old girl with Down’s Syndrome, is looking for her father. Marius, her companion, seems to be hiding from something. Aided by a simple instruction card, Hanna explores what it is to be human, as Tavares creates an abstract yet touching portrait of the true victims of war.
“Gonçalo M. Tavares is a great writer who continues the best models of the European literary tradition. He is both masterful and original. You recognise his unique perspective and style from the first page of his every novel. One of the very few writers in the world who can construct a parabolic story.” —Olga Tokarczuk
“Gonçalo M. Tavares is a writer who is unlike any you’ve read before. —The New Yorker
“It would be no exaggeration to say that there is very much a before Gonçalo M. Tavares and an after. I’ve predicted that in thirty years’ time, if not before, he will win the Nobel Prize and I’m sure my prediction will come true.”—José Saramago
“With great beauty and skill, Tavares narrates a fantastic story. One of the most striking books in recent European literature.”—Le Monde
“Gonçalo Tavares’ literature fascinates me with his brilliant paradoxes: he is an author who is indomitable and rational, ironic and profound, singular and approachable, demanding of himself and at the same time irresistibly amusing. His writing is a happy trigger for readers’ intelligence.” —Irene Vallejo
About the Author
Gonçalo M. Tavares was born in Luanda in 1970 and teaches Theory of Science in Lisbon. His work has already received an impressive amount of literary awards, among them the Prix Littéraire Européen, the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger 2010, which has so far been given to authors like Salman Rushdie, John Updike, and Philip Roth. Other awards inculde the Saramago Prize, the Prêmio Portugal Telecom de Literatura em Língua Portuguesa, the SPA Author’s Prize, the Prêmio Melhor Narrativa Ficcional da Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores and the Prémio Literário Fundação Inês de Castro.
About the Translator
Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and translator, with thirty-something books to his name. He has translated fiction from Portuguese, Spanish and French (from Europe, Africa and the Americas) and non-fiction by writers ranging from Portuguese Nobel laureate José Saramago to Brazilian footballer Pelé. He has written works of narrative non-fiction for adults and the text of a picture-book for children; and edited a number of reference books including “The Ultimate Book Guides”, a series of reading guides for children and teenagers. His books have won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Blue Peter Book Award.
Book Details
Title: A Girl is Lost in Her Century, Looking for Her Father
Author: Gonçalo M. Tavares
Translator: Daniel Hahn
Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
Publication Date: April 8, 2025
Language: English
Paperback: 240 pp
Available @ Amazon.com
