A beautiful cover with an interesting premise. I always appreciate a novel that makes an effort to explore culture and diverse characters and themes and this seems to be suggested here.

This was a strange one for me. It wasn't my sort of book at all BUT, it was so well written, so interesting, I couldn't put it down! As others have said it's a short story but I was left satisfied by it.

An engaging story with a disturbing twist at the end. The lovely Luana would have turned many a boy's head and with the burgeoning manhood of André the outcome was inevitable. Can't help thinking it may be some sort of cathartic autobiography but I may be wrong.   Those with knowledge of the Portugese language may get more out of it as some phrases weren't translated.

A touching yet bittersweet story of a boy (now man) remembering the days of his youth as he slowly learns the consequences to his actions decades earlier. Some really beautiful descriptions of Brazil- the country and the culture.

This is an evocative tale of love and loss as Andre is looks back at his early life in Brazil.  The story weaves throughout his life, examining his relationships in his country of birth and the reason he fled all that was familiar for a new beginning in Europe. His guilt at what he has left behind niggles away until a final revelation thirty years later propels him back to face up to his past. The book comes alive with the clear portrayal of each character, especially Andre's intense and introspective personality as he analyses and questions each relationship in his life.  A gem of a novel - I will looking out for more from this author.

I was sent the recommendation for this book via email from a publisher because I liked Three Daughters of Eve so much. I already had a lot of books on my to-read list but I am so pleased I chose to read this.
André Cabral is a Brazilian doctor living in London with his wife Esther and his two kids. His practice is busy, and although he gets annoyed with all the hypochondria he encounters, he generally is content.
That all changes when he receives a letter one day from back home in Brazil. The book begins with this letter from someone called Luana. He hasn’t seen Luana in about 30 years but memories of their time together floods back as if it was yesterday.  Luana states that she has his email but she wanted to write to him because email is too instant. Immediately I wondered who Luana was and what made her want to write rather than having the instant contact email provides. 
Luiza Sauma’s writing brings Brazil to life, especially when Luana writes that she has never been to Europe but she can’t complain when she thinks about where she lives. A place where you can smell the jungle wherever you go and the children grow up wild, like Indians.
Luana talks of how Brazil seduces foreigners and drives them wild but they never get to see the real Brazil. Brazil is somewhere I have never really thought of traveling to but after reading this book I have a real desire to go there.
André can hardly stop thinking about the letter. His work and home life begin to suffer and before long he is separated from his wife and struggling to focus on his patients. The little we initially know of why he left Brazil is intriguing, I tried not to linger on my memories of Luana, of what happened between us. When I met Esther, I locked those memories away at the back of my mind.
His mother died in a road traffic accident shortly before his 17th birthday and André reflects that if she was still alive then the subsequent events would never have occurred. He believes it is likely he would be living in his old family apartment in Rio de Janeiro with a Brazilian wife and his children. Instead of living alone in London apart from his English wife and his children Hannah and Beatriz, the latter named after his deceased mother.
The bulk of the book focuses on a time around six months after his mother died in the mid 80’s. André, his brother Thiago and their dad are struggling to relate to each other in their grief. Everything was subsequent to that. The dictatorship ended that year, but I don’t remember how I felt about it. Mamae was dead. What more was there to feel?
There was clearly a whole in their life without their mother and the family dynamics had changed. This hole was partially filled by their Empregada Rita and her daughter Luana. They cooked and cleaned the apartment and Rita looked after the boys whilst their father was working in his plastic surgery practice.
For me, the practice of having empregadas is wholly alien and served to emphasise the gap between the rich and the poor in Brazil. André and his family, as well as most of his friends, have empregadas catering to their needs. In other areas there the author mentions slums and people begging on the streets. Not to mention the fact that Luana had to drop out of school to work with her mother.
André and Luana’s relationship serves to emphasise the inequalities that exist for empregadas in their society. They exist in the background and can be a part of the family without ever really belonging. This point is illustrated by André knowing so little about Luana and Rita. He doesn’t know her surname, what happened to her father or how she feels about having to drop out of school. A barrier exists between them, one that prevents him from offering her some of his food to try and various other things.
When André initially began to notice Luana the notion that he might have feelings for an empregada is ridiculous to him because they exist in two different worlds. Despite his growing feelings for Luana he continues to flirt and sleep with a rich young girl from his group of friends named Daniela. This continues on long after he and Luana begin to develop something between them.
André’s actions towards Luana frequently made me angry, particularly because her unequal position in the relationship and in life in general meant she had very few options to remove herself from the situation.
In the present Luana’s letters are full of anger, anger directed at André for not contacting her. André in turn feels anger towards his estranged, and now deceased, father. He is angry about the secrets he kept from him and for the rift between him which caused him to flee his homeland and caused irreparable damage to their already fractious relationship.
This book slowly builds to an epic climax which has stayed with me days after finishing it. A beautiful and sorrowful read.

An excellent story told in an interesting way gradually revealing the truth through the present and the past.  A compelling read which I thoroughly recommend.

Elements of Flesh And Bone And Water reminded me of Wasp Days by Erhard  von Buren in that both books explore the memories of older men looking back to their youths and neither of the men is presented as a particularly likeable character. Here Sauma has her GP Andre Cabral remembering his privileged childhood and adolescence  Brazil and the events which saw him exile himself from his country. I loved the portrayals of 1980s Brazil! Richly detailed prose allowed me to visualise the vibrant landscapes, city and small town locations, as well as giving me an understanding of Andre's way of life. The son of an affluent family, he didn't realise how spoilt he was at the time so we see his surprise at small events such as the first time he ever made himself breakfast - aged eighteen! His family employed two maids (empregadas) who saw to pretty much their every need, expected to work long hours and with just two days off a month.

I found the careless attitude of Andre and his friends towards empregadas particularly distasteful and Sauma presents this idea of superiority in an interesting way. We see Andre offended by the slurs his friends utter without understanding that he thinks of his maids exactly the same. A childish assumption persists that Rita and her daughter, Luana, live with the family because they want to and he doesn't really question Luana's having left school young, even though her correcting of his maths homework shows she is equally as intellectually capable. It is surely obvious that an empregada's daughter would have no greater ambition than to be an empregada herself.

I liked the device of Luana's letters to Andre. They provide an almost sinister undertone to the novel. I guessed fairly early on what her ultimate revelation would be, but this foreknowledge didn't detract from the story. Instead I thought it provided an inevitability that added to the tension. I would have liked to have also seen more of Luana's viewpoint as I think the tale could have been just as interesting, if not more so, through her eyes. Andre's shallowness is infuriating!

"It's easy to leave a place when you're young. Coming back is harder. That's my advice : stay where you are." And so begins this beautiful novel which I would term as part coming of age and part an immigrant's journey from Brazil to Londres. More importantly why does the protagonist Andre venture back on a journey to his childhood home? 

The author Luiza Sauma has very poignantly narrated the story in first person so it feels like Andre is telling you his own story. You travel with Andre down memory lane to his life as an adolescent growing up in Rio. You are then introduced to his father, brother and their maid Rita and her daughter Luana. Life in Brazil is depicted wonderfully and impressions of a third world nation are brought to fore via descriptions of infrastructure, travel and general way of life. I particularly enjoyed reading about Brazilian food. A special mention here about the scrumptious fish stew and rice that the family ate on their visit to Marajo which lent a sense of comfort and homeliness to that chapter.

In Andre's present life in London, he appears to be stuck in a rut as a GP with a dysfunctional family. In the midst of his mundane reality he receives letters from Luana which  prompt him to go back to Brazil where certain secrets are revealed. Secrets from the past are sometimes painful but can they also be liberating? The title of the book comes to fruition at the very end and that's when you realise the story effectively culminates into a whole and provides you with a completely different perspective on the novel. 

I truly enjoyed this book and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. I am also seriously considering travelling to Brazil in the near future all thanks to the author's description of the place and culture.

This was one of those books where I could admire the quality of the writing without being particularly moved by the story or the characters.  In fact, the story felt rather slight even for quite a short book.  The author’s choice of a male narrator was interesting (and quite brave) but I’m not sure I got any additional insight into the character as a result.

The book flits between past and present as Andre, born in Brazil but now living in London, reminisces about his time living in Rio and his teenage infatuation with the family’s maid, Luana.  The reminiscences are provoked by receipt of a series of letters from Luana after a space of many years.  

I found Andre a very difficult character to identify with.  I struggled to see what attraction he could have held for Luana.  Both as an adult and a teenager Andre comes across as totally self-obsessed.  He doesn’t stay in touch with friends, remember the surnames of his previous lovers and appears to feel any obligation to commit to his marriage.  Even during his relationship with Luana he shows no interest in finding out about her family or even where she and Rita, her mother, go on their rare days off.  

‘She and Rita spent the weekend at Vidigal. Who with?  Family, I suppose.  Friends from the favela, who they never spoke of.’

When Andre learns details about his father’s activities, he doesn’t appear shocked.  What comes across is a picture of an extremely stratified society where the rich of Rio live in apartments in gated communities overlooking Ipanema beach attended to by maids from the favelas.   

Despite becoming a doctor, Andre shows no empathy for his patients whom he describes as ‘local hypochondriacs, idlers, depressives and overprotective mothers.’   In fact, Andre seems overwhelmed by self-pity so much so that he seems surprised that his wife’s reaction to reading Luana’s letters is to feel sorry for her not for him: ‘She was crying for Luana, not for me.’    

However, I must give the author credit for the wonderful and evocative depictions of Brazil, its landscape and people.  The colour of Brazil contrasts with the dull, grey tones of the descriptions of London.   
I was sorry I couldn’t love this book more because I think the writer shows real promise. 

Thank you to  NetGalley and publishers Penguin UK for the review copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Quite an interesting book.  Enjoyed the setting and characters but found the read a bit hard going!

This is the story of Andre who grows up within an affluent family in Brazil, falling for the daughter of the family's maid. The story switches between his life as a teenager in Brazil, and his life as a GP in London in the present day, highlighting the class divide between rich and poor, and black and white, in Brazil. The actions of his teenage self come back to haunt him in the present day and he returns to Brazil to confront his demons.
Very well written book and extremely evocative of the lifestyle Andre would have led as a rich teenager who had the world at his feet in Brazil. This is a good read and I would certainly recommend. Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this as an arc.

It is hard to describe the plot of this book without spoilers. The story is told from Andre’s perspective, as an adult, looking back on the events which occurred during the year of his 18th birthday and which completely changed his life, taking him from his home in Rio, to permanently living in London.

By about a third of the way through you begin to develop suspicions of what may have happened to Andre and Luana. Sauma does a good job of toying with the readers expectations and it was entertaining. However, I couldn’t help but feel it fell a bit flat. The eventual revelation is momentous and despite the short length of the book, there is a huge build up to it, however the amount of time exploring the issue itself is so short and is focused far more on continuation of the plot than exploring what it means for those involved.

I loved how the novel was immersed in Brazil and Brazilian culture and the prose was beautiful and really evoked the mood. Unfortunately, I struggled with Andre as a character; he was difficult to relate to and once the primary plot twist become obvious, I felt it lacked anything deeper and more compelling. The strands of the story came together well, however I would have loved it to explore issues like what happened to Andre’s mother, or Luana’s own situation more. I wonder if perhaps chapters from Luana’s perspective might have been more interesting in these respects. I think it was simply because the novel was so short that it didn’t quite reach my expectations.

It was definitely readable and I would be keen to try more from Sauma. I did enjoy her style and thought her plot was very interesting, unfortunately it just didn’t blow me away.

I received a free copy of this novel from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. 
Set in modern-day London and Brazil of thirty years ago, this is a sensuous novel of a forbidden relationship between two teenagers – one, Andre, the privileged son of a well off family, the other, beautiful Luana, the family maid and daughter of his nanny. In the present day Andre is a doctor, separated from his wife and living in London, far from the home of his youth. When he starts receiving letters from Luana nearly 30 years after they last met he is plunged back to the events that led to him departing his home country.
This is a very readable novel with some great characters and twists. The love story between Andre and Luana is very much affected by the gulf between the rich and the poor – Andre has a bright future ahead of him and Luana only a life of menial labour. Additionally there is the contrast of cultures between cold, reserved London and the heat of passionate Brazil. Andre is a stranger in his new country and estranged from his old, haunted by his past he has never truly been able to be himself. This is a passionate, tragic novel that will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading it.

Brazilian-born doctor André Cabral is living in London when one day he receives a letter from his home country, which he left nearly thirty years ago. A letter he keeps in his pocket for weeks, but tells no one about. 
The letter prompts André to remember the days of his youth - torrid afternoons on Ipanema beach with his listless teenage friends, parties in elegant Rio apartments, his after-school job at his father's plastic surgery practice - and, above all, his secret infatuation with the daughter of his family's maid, the intoxicating Luana. Unable to resist the pull of the letter, André embarks on a journey back to Brazil to rediscover his past.
This is a lovely book, I so enjoyed reading it and gaining an understanding of Brazil the country and the social structure.  Written in the first person by Andre we are taken on the rite of passage from the death of his mother when he is an anxious teenager to middle aged despondency.  The realisation of his parents’ history and its impact on the family is a cruel lesson, but gives an understanding of the consequences of selfish actions.
There were many layers to this story and the simple but evocative descriptions of the vast country and its mix of races added to my pleasure in the reading of it.

This is a beautifully written book. I confess I know very little about Brazil but now I know a lot more. It gives a wonderful insight into the beautiful country, the characters and the lifestyle in Rio and further north in Belem. There were occasional  words or phrases in Portuguese that made it feel so authentic; as if you were there as a visitor. Andre, middle aged and writing in first person is working in London as a doctor. He'd been born in Brazil to wealthy doctors. When Luana, his first love writes to him out of the blue he recalls his experiences in Brazil in the 1980's when he was becoming sexually aware. Luana he believed was out of bounds because she was a servant, or so Andre understood at the time. But there's a lot he doesn't know and he uncovers it little by little. The ending is abrupt so I'm wondering if there's a sequel.

The dark yet dazzling nature of 1980s Brazil is detailed with rich language and vibrant episode in this novel; the image of a stratified and racist society developed through the relationship between a well off young man and his empregada, a young black woman who left school to work as a housekeeper. The small anecdotes about Andre's family life and local experiences are where the beauty and colour reside. Yet these are the best parts of the book. Andre falls quickly into melodrama, it's all teenage angst and sex. His adult life takes place in a rather more desultory described London, continuing with the dramatic denouement of his younger self's story; something which seemed obvious to me but clearly a complete surprise to this character who seems to have little or no concept of how people behave. 

There's some good groundwork here, a sense of place that feels real enough to touch, in Brazil at least. Still, however good a frame looks, it needs a good picture to hang inside if it's going to be worth looking at.


ARC via Netgalley

A wonderful debut novel by Brazilian born Luiza Sauma. Andre, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, but now a GP in London, receives a letter from Luana, the daughter of the family maid who herself has been motherly with Andre as his own mother has died. It causes him to reminisce about his life as a young man in Rio with his teenage friends, parties, school and his younger brother. His plastic surgeon father has him helping in his clinic. Andre has a complete infatuation with Luana, believing himself to be in love with the most beautiful girl. However , she is an empregada, and therefore not of his class. Eventually after several letters he returns to Rio and confronts his past, with some rather unexpected consequences and revelations. 
Well written, well paced novel with plenty of suspense and surprise. When the revelations come they are unexpected and shocking. There are some very good descriptions of teenage 'love' and infatuation as well as the city of Rio and it's inhabitants. The class system is alive and well in this novel. I really enjoyed it.
I will be recommending it on BBC Three Counties Radio on March 23rd on the Nick Coffer Show. I will post the links later.

Flesh and Bone and Water portrays the life of a carefree teenager who becomes the responsible adult. Mistakes have a habit of coming back to haunt you. 

This book alternates between the life of the teenager in Rio and his adult self now living in London. 

André comes from a wealthy Brazilian family. They were happy until he lost his mother when he was sixteen years old.

He is now married and has two daughters. He works as a General Practitioner in London. His wife throws a party for his forty fifth birthday and this is where everything changes. One of the entertainers reminds him of Luana, his maid's daughter in Rio. He was infatuated with her and although his father warned him against getting involved, the attraction proved to be too much and he ended up doing just that. This led to surprising complications and that's when he started to run. It was the easiest thing to do. They were both young and the cultural differences didn't allow for a permanent relationship. 

The situation brought to light some dark secrets which created further confusion and despair. 

André receives a letter from Luana just before his forty sixth birthday and this takes him even further down memory lane. His past haunts him so much that he starts withdrawing in his current relationship and his marriage is on the rocks. When he receives another letter unveiling more secrets, he decides that he needs to go back to Brazil to address these issues face to face. Thirty years later! 

This is a well written novel about the differences between the rich and the poor. It's an emotional story and my heart goes out to Luana. She is the one who suffered the most. I sympathise with André but in my eyes, his professional approach lets him down. It's a quick and easy read with graphic pictures of life as a rich teenager in Brazil and life as a Doctor in London. 

I was kindly issued with a complimentary ecopy from the publisher via NetGalley and the views expressed are my personal opinion.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I honestly didn't know what to expect when I downloaded this book, but I'm glad I did. The storyline and the characters where brilliant. It was a very well written story. I look forward to reading more from this author.