Washington Post Uys has accomplished what no Brazilian author from Jos de Alencar to Jorge Amado was able to do. He is the first outsider with the total honesty and sympathy to write our national epic in all its decisive episodes. Through the lives of two powerful families, Brazil depicts five turbulent centuries in the history of a remarkable land. From colony to kingdom, from empire to nation, Brazil is filled with memorable people living through one of the great adventures in human history. The Cavalcantis are among the original settlers and establish the classic Brazilian plantation vast, powerful, built with slave labor.
Brazil is an intensely human story brutal and violent, tender and passionate.
Perilous explorations through the Brazilian wilderness . . . I immigrated to America from South Africa in 1977. One of my first assignments was with James A. Michener, the renowned historical novelist, working for two years as assistant on his South African book, The Covenant. We spoke about countries with an epic history that would lend itself to a novel on a grand scale. One of the places I suggested was Brazil, which has captivated me since I was a boy.