Spilt Milk: A Novel

The revered Brazilian songwriter and novelist “has breathed the story of a whole country into a single, unforgettable man with a soul as big as Brazil” (Nicole Krauss, author of Forest Dark).

As Eulálio d’Assumpção lies dying in a Brazilian public hospital, his daughter and the attending nurses are treated—whether they like it or not—to his last, rambling monologue. Ribald, hectoring, and occasionally delusional, Eulálio reflects on his past, present, and future—on his privileged, plantation-owning family; his father’s philandering with beautiful French whores; his own half-hearted career as a weapons dealer; the eventual decline of the family fortune; and his passionate courtship of the wife who would later abandon him.

Through Eulálio’s journey across the twists and turns of his own fragmented memories, Buarque conjures an evocative portrait of a man’s life and love, while bringing to life the broad sweep of Brazilian history. At once jubilant and painfully nostalgic, playful and devastatingly urgent, readers of the award-winning Spilt Milk will find themselves “in the hands of a master storyteller” (The Plain Dealer).

“In Spilt Milk [Buarque] confronts the themes that make Brazil squirm, from the stain of slavery to the inferiority complex the country has historically felt when it compares itself to Europe. ” —The New York Times

“Lovely details and a fine sense of place … Echoing Sebald’s Rings of Saturn … There’s plenty to like. ” —Publishers Weekly

“One of the saddest love stories, and one of the truest. ” —Nicole Krauss

© 2012 Grove Press (Ebook): 9780802194855

Translators: Alison Entrekin

Release date

Ebook: 4 December 2012