“A captivating prose-poem about longing and identity – and the search for one’s place in the world.”

-Richard Zimler

This is the first appearance in English of a work by Portugal’s most innovative contemporary author, who has evolved his own concept of what a book can be. In this work, which resembles a long prose poem, Canteiro is clearly influenced by the manifold personality oscillations of a predecessor, the Portuguese author and poet, Fernando Pessoa. Canteiro imagines himself as fluctuating between two ultra-sensitive personalities, his own and that of the deceased 19th century Portuguese poet António Nobre, who died very young. Canteiro keeps Nobre’s own book of poems beside his bed. The scenes of Canteiro’s evocative book are set in various parts of Portugal, in Paris, and other countries. He visits these emotionally-charged settings, takes in all of their essence and poetry, and does so through four eyes, two minds, and two hearts. The book is unlike any other. Canteiro expresses the same sense of longing and nostalgia, saudade, which haunts the famous fado singing of his native land. Canteiro has won literary prizes in Portugal but remains elusive and writes, appropriately and shyly, under a nom de plume. His real name is João Carlos Costa da Cruz, and he was born in 1964. He is a man with a powerful social conscience. He is a senior specialist worker in the field of the social reintegration of inmates at the Aveiro Regional Prison. He has also studied and written about the gypsy community of Porto. He has edited one magazine and founded two others. One of his novels won the Alves Redol Prize in 2009. Canteiro is also a professional flute player. It is hoped that the inspiration which he provides to his countrymen through his writings can spread more widely, with its sense of compassion and profound emotion, as well as his profound love for Portugal.