Each character is a universe unto itself; all possess such complexity that the reader feels like a fly on the wall, observing their lives up close.

Facing reality

The main character, Rosa, is a teenager who has faced deep trauma and abandonment by her parents. She copes by drifting between imagination and delirium, since facing her reality directly is too painful. Rosa experienced her mother leaving, witnessed her grandfather’s suicide, and was present when her father died. Her only remaining family is her grandmother, Antónia. Over time, Antónia becomes too frail, and Rosa must take on the role of caretaker.

At no point in the narrative is Rosa presented as a normal teenager, mainly because her living conditions do not allow for it. It is clear that she carries the weight of the world on her small shoulders, and although this signifies maturity for her, for the reader, it feels like we are witnessing the beginning of a life doomed to failure because of her lack of a childhood.

However well-written the book may be, it is important to note that it is not an easy read. Themes such as poverty, hunger, sexual violence, manipulation, and paedophilia present significant challenges, leaving the reader unsettled by the vivid descriptions of a difficult reality often overlooked.

Throughout the story, Rosa has just one goal: to take her grandmother to Jerusalem before the hour of her death arrives. With no money and a grandmother whose health is extremely frail, she has few options left, other than to ask for help from the only wealthy person she knows: the owner of the neighbouring village, Miss Whittemore.

The character of Miss Whittemore appears in the plot as a direct contrast to Rosa’s reality. She is an English lady whose fortune has allowed her to buy an entire village. She lives in a mansion large enough to house everyone in the village and is marked by an eccentricity as great as the fortune she possesses.

She sleeps in a bed made of whale bones, dresses in a garish manner, and her main entertainment is taking part in erudite conversations, believing that she, too, is capable of sustaining them.

Miss Whittemore pays a salary to a Hindu master, a Yoruba sorcerer and a science professor, and compels them to gather at her mansion to discuss the most varied of subjects, for, to her, there is nothing more enriching.

An act of love

In an act of love and desperation, Rosa makes her way to the Englishwoman’s village to propose a seemingly far-fetched idea: to bring the Holy Land to her grandmother. To carry out her plan, Miss Whittemore’s help would be essential. Rosa asked the Englishwoman to transform her village into Jerusalem, to dress her staff in period costume, and thus fulfil the old Catholic lady’s final wish.

Miss Whittemore thinks the idea is brilliant and readily agrees to help.

What, for her, would be yet another excellent way to pass the time, for Rosa meant, for the first time in her life, having the power to alter her destiny; a destiny to which she had been condemned by her childhood and unfortunate geographical location.

What followed this agreement between the young woman and the English lady was, for me, among the most challenging parts of the narrative.

From there, a complex relationship develops between Rosa and the elderly scientist employed by Miss Whittemore, Professor Borja. As one of the Englishwoman’s staff, the professor becomes involved in the plan to turn the village into the Holy Land, which allows him to interact more closely with Rosa.

Credits: TPN; Author: Iris Marçal;

Because of his age and intelligence, Professor Borja is able to win Rosa’s trust and affection, which leads to a sexual relationship between them. Although these encounters are important to the story, I could only see them as deeply disturbing and troubling.

It should be noted that, at this stage of the narrative, Rosa is only 15 years old, whilst Professor Borja is already over 70.

A parallel romance

In contrast, there is a parallel romance between Rosa and the young shepherd Ari, who is the same age as her, and which, in my opinion, highlights even more how wrong the relationship between the old man and the young girl is.

A priest in the story is portrayed as highly depraved. He openly admits to feeling sexual desire for Rosa and secretly has a sexual relationship with a local stripper. He asks her to inflict pain on him using belts, whips, or anything that causes scars. In public, he appears to follow strict religious morals, but in private, he indulges his punishment fetish.

Until the narrative reaches its climax, the reading journey is vile and torturous, but, as one can see at the end of the book, necessary.

Rosa’s plan is carried out successfully; her grandmother is taken to the Holy Land without ever leaving the Alentejo region, and, for a few moments, the story seems to take a lighter, happier turn – a feeling that, unfortunately, lasts less than a single page.

Character complexity

Not wishing to give too much more of the plot away, as I think this book is well worth reading and I would like future readers to draw their own conclusions, I must say that I do not consider the end of the story a happy ending. It is true that this book is not a fairy tale, but rather a mirror of real life. In real life, endings are rarely happy, as there is rarely happiness at the end of a story.

In the end, strangely enough, it is where one fully realises the origin of the nature and complexity of the various characters presented, just as it is confirmed that Rosa’s fate could not be altered by her own will, dreams and desires, for, like all of us, Rosa is and always will be a product of the environment in which she grew up.

In short, I believe that this work by Afonso Cruz perfectly captures the harsh reality of growing up in a rural environment where resources are limited, and shows readers that, in society, religiosity, morality, hypocrisy and human cruelty are not individual concepts, but a set of characteristics which, together, make up the human being as a whole.