Saving the Fire
A Novel
Itamar Vieria Júnior author Johnny Lorenz translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Verso Books
Publishing:1st Sep '26
£12.99
This title is due to be published on 1st September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
The highly anticipated new novel from the author of the Booker-shortlisted international sensation Crooked Plow
Moisés lives with his father and sister in a Brazilian village dominated by the local monastery. His mother having died mysteriously, Moisés is raised by his sister Luzia, a young woman rumored to be a witch and despised by the villagers. Luzia seeks protection from the monastery, where she gets a job as a laundress and where Moisés receives an education. In time, something triggers her brother to rebel and run away from home. Luzia finds herself wholly alone, fighting for the family's land and for her life. Unknown to her, Moisés, too, has put himself on the front line of an ancient conflict between colonial oppressors and the dispossessed.
Epic and lyrical, with the power to enchant as well as outrage, Saving the Fire presents the ghosts of a family's past lost amid the shadows of a nation's history. Masterfully, Itamar Vieira Junior blends the intimate journeys of his characters with faithfully rendered elements of Brazilian life in a world where the scars of colonialism still ache.
A leading voice among the Black authors who have jolted Brazil's literary establishment in recent years with imaginative and searing works that have found commercial success and critical acclaim * New York Times *
"A lyrical masterpiece. It's an enthralling read that's both intimate in its character study of this family and an epic rebuke of the country's long colonial shadow." * Chicago Review of Books, Most Anticipated Books of 2026 *
Village rumors, religious hypocrisy, and family secrets rank high when it comes to themes I want to read about, and Saving the Fire weaves all of that together with histories of colonization that can't be separated from nation-states and the people who live in them. * Lit Hub, Most Anticipated Books of 2026 *
An important literary voice * Financial Times *
Vieira Junior has been an integral member of a group of Brazilian writers who, in depicting racism and slavery through the viewpoint of racial minorities and enslaved peoples, remind us of Brazil's painful colonial history while returning agency to those who suffered under its one-sided narration * Nation *
I am immersed in Saving the Fire, and I can hardly wait for the finale of Vieira's trilogy * New York Review of Books *
Literary, folky, with a dash of magic and Catholic piety, this book is an excellent, immersive read. Shown through the impoverished lens of everyday people, the author shows a world as it is, but also what could have been different had it not been looted by colonialism and the imposition of the Catholic church...This team of author and translator have paired together before, and the work is seamless. This book has moral and philosophical depth, with truths being excavated in every chapter, but never at the expense of pacing or plot. * Historical Novels Society *
ISBN: 9781804298916
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 19mm
Weight: 253g
304 pages
Paperback original