A coming-of-age story set in Angola in the period leading up to thecolony's independence, Saudade focuseson a Goan immigrant family caught between complicity in Portuguese rule, and theirdependence on the Angolans who are their servants. The title (saudade means 'melancholy' inPortuguese) speaks to the longing for homeland that haunts its characters, andespecially the young girl who is the book's protagonist and narrator. 

SuneetaPeres da Costa's novella captures with intense lyricism the difficultrelationship between the daughter and her mother, and the ways in which theirintimate world opens up questions about domestic violence, the legacies of Portugueseslavery, and the end of empire. The young woman's intellectual awakening unfoldsinto a growing awareness of the lies of colonialism, and the violent political rupturesthat ultimately lead to her father's death, and their exile.

'[Her] voice is unique: neither childlike nor grownup, but insteadby turns gravely articulate, wildly poetic, and hilariously original...a hauntingand magical vision of childhood.' AustinChronicle