A General Theory of Oblivion
By: José Eduardo Agualusa ; translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn
Contributors: Hahn, Daniel, translator
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9781846558474; 9780099593126; 9781448191543
Subjects: Women hermits; Fiction
Work titles: Teoria geral do esquecimento
Description: This is the brilliant new novel from the winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. On the eve of Angolan independence, Ludo bricks herself into her apartment, where she will remain for the next thirty years. She lives off vegetables and pigeons, burns her furniture and books to stay alive and keeps herself busy by writing her story on the walls of her home. The outside world slowly seeps into Ludo's life through snippets on the radio, voices from next door, glimpses of a man fleeing his pursuers and a note attached to a bird's foot. Until one day she meets Sabalu, a young boy from the street who climbs up to her terrace. As the stories of those she sees from her window unfold and intersect, Agualusa transports us far beyond the confines of Ludo's apartment and out on to the streets of Angola.
Notes: Translated from the Portuguese.

The Man Booker International Prize : Shortlist 2016.