To stop the wind with your hands

In 1939, Fanny Reiss flees Nazi Germany and arrives in Lourenço Marques with her younger children, thirteen-year-old Eva and eight-year-old Otto. Her husband and eldest son remain behind, their fate unknown.

In Mozambique, Fanny finds an improbable refuge. But the threat of deportation persists, forcing her into dangerous maneuvers to ensure her family's survival.

As they grow up, Eva and Otto take different paths. Otto heads north in search of adventure, becomes deeply involved with the land, marries a Mozambican woman, and eventually joins the armed struggle. Eva adapts to the colonial society of Lourenço Marques: she frequents the Tennis Club, marries her instructor – a member of a prosperous Chinese family – and raises her children, Luís and Sofia, amidst the privileges and conventions of the urban elite.

As the war of independence intensifies, Luís faces the contradictions of the world he grew up in. Becoming involved with a young Mozambican woman with a strong political consciousness, he finds himself torn between family loyalty and the civic and social awareness that awakens within him.

Inspired by her own family history, Brigid Hampton crafts a novel spanning four decades, reflecting on belonging, uprooting, and the illusion of being able to stop the wind with one's hands.

Book Details:

• Author: Brigid Hampton
• Publisher: Porto Editora
• Number of Pages: 416