The Drinker of Horizons
A Novel
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ISBN10: 1250321697
ISBN13: 9781250321695
Trade Paperback
256 Pages
$18.00
CA$24.50
In The Drinker of Horizons, the award-winning author Mia Couto brings the epic love story between a young Mozambican woman named Imani and the Portuguese sergeant Germano de Melo to its stirring close. We resume where The Sword and the Spear left off: While Germano is left behind in Africa, serving with the Portuguese military, Imani has been enlisted to act as the interpreter to the imprisoned emperor of Gaza, Ngungunyane, on the long voyage to Lisbon. For Ngungunyane and his seven wives, it will be a journey of no return. Imani’s will come only after a decade-long odyssey through the Portuguese empire at the beginning of the twentieth century.
If history is always narrated by the victors, in The Drinker of Horiozons, Couto performs an act of restorative justice, giving a voice to those silenced by the horrors of colonialism. Throughout, Couto’s language astonishes, rendering with utter clarity the beauty and terror of war and love, and revealing the devastation of a profoundly unequal encounter between cultures.
Reviews
Praise for The Drinker of Horizons
"[Couto's] life has been woven into the history of the nation, and he has become the foremost chronicler of Mozambique’s antiheroes: its women, its peasants, even its dead."—Jacob Judah, The New York Times
"In this concluding volume to an ambitious trilogy about the history of Mozambique, Mia Couto wrestles with issues like colonialism, religious conflicts, and notions of family. It’s also subtly subversive; the star-crossed lovers in the narrative are kept separate, and many of the political maneuverings take place offscreen. The result is a moving tale with complex characters that rarely goes where you’d expect."—Tobias Carroll, Words Without Borders
"Epic . . . A careful and affecting conclusion to an ambitious saga." —Kirkus Reviews
"[A] satisfying conclusion to [Couto's] Sands of the Emperor trilogy . . . Series fans will enjoy this finale."—Publishers Weekly
Reviews from Goodreads
BOOK EXCERPTS
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INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Summary of the Previous Volumes, Woman of the Ashes and The Sword and the Spear
At the end of the nineteenth century, Portugal is facing resistance from the State of Gaza, which dominates all...
About the author
Mia Couto; Translated from the Portuguese by David Brookshaw
