José Eduardo AGUALUSA

Félix Ventura lives in a dilapidated villa full of books in the middle of Luanda, Angola´s capital, and makes a living by making up and selling people´s family trees and pasts. Among his customers are a number of celebrities, mainly wealthy businessmen, ministers, or deputies. They all already know that they can secure a good future, but they would still need the right past. They trust Félix, who can smartly construct new pasts, memories, and identities and modify family trees and life stories so that they can meet new conditions. One day, however, an unknown stranger finds him and, in addition to wanting a new past, he also wants new personal documents. He refuses to say who he really is, but offers an extremely generous reward…

Published by Triáda, 2020

José Eduardo Agualusa (* 1960) is currently the most frequently translated Angolan author. His mother´s ancestors were Portuguese and his father´s Brazilian. He has lived alternately in Portugal and Brazil, and currently lives in Mozambique. He has not lived in Angola for a long time for personal and political reasons. So far, he has published 13 novels, 10 short story collections, and 4 children’s books. In 2015, the novel The Book of Chameleons was adapted for screen.