Burning wind

In his newest novel, André de Leones encourages the reader to visit “our old Brazilian (Central-)West,” little seen and explored, from the 1980s.

"Vento de Querada" tells the story of Isabel, a historian by training and a killer by deformation. Her father, a former police officer and gunfighter—or an ex-police gunfighter, since there's no way of knowing which came first—works for powerful and influential figures in the state of Goiás. Their relationship, as well as their practices and habits, is not conventionally structured—in this relationship, it's unclear who is responsible for whom, who should be an example to whom. The father, because of who he is and what he does, occasionally exposes his daughter to incidents that don't concern her, inserting her into a tragic environment of greed and violence. We are in the throes of the military dictatorship, in the heart of the republic, and Isabel finds herself surrounded by "good men" of all kinds. And sometimes, in such environments, the only way to escape is by shooting.

Author of exceptional novels such as Eufrates and Hoje está um dia morto (winner of the Sesc Literature Prize), André de Leones paints a portrait of a country characterized by beauty, but also horror. Described by Luisa Geisler, who wrote the blurb, as a "tropical Taratino," the book is an invitation, a call, worth listening to and heeding.