A novel that draws poetry out of each moment

Hut of Fallen Persimmons (cloth)

Adriana Lisboa; translated by Sarah Green

In a station of the metro in Rio de Janeiro, where both live, illustrator Haruki and artisan Celina meet by chance—and soon decide, however improbably, to travel together to Japan. Their shared destination: the famous Rakushisha, or Hut of Fallen Persimmons, where seventeenth-century haiku master Matsuo Bashō once stayed. Their trip to Kyoto provides a context for each to meditate on the past, their feelings for each other, and questions of cultural difference. Through a counterpoint of narration and text, the pair’s losses and struggles gradually unfold.

Bashō’s haiku brilliantly mold the novel’s structure. Bashō’s translator in Brazil, readers learn, is Haruki’s great unrequited love, and Celina’s sad eyes conceal a tragedy in her own life. In this exquisitely woven novel, meant to be cradled in both hands as the Japanese might hold a precious object, the characters’ every gesture, reflection, and self-revelation are manifest.

[Hut of Fallen Persimmons] not only draws upon the relatively recent experience of Brazilians migrating to other lands, but also places the story mostly abroad and not solely within Brazil. —Nelson H. Vieira

Praise for Adriana Lisboa’s works

“Lisboa . . . has a brilliant way of building the narrative as if it were music in two different tempos.” —Olivia de Lamberterie, Elle Magazine, France

“A poignant tour de force on human interactions.” —Marguerite Itamar Harrison, Smith College

“A concise and touching narrative” —Jornal de Notícias, Portugal

“A writer for the future . . . an author for now and for later.” —José Saramago, 1998 Nobel Laureate in literature

“Lisboa deftly weaves together scenes of past and present.” —Publishers Weekly

Adriana Lisboa, born in Rio de Janeiro, holds degrees in music and literature and has worked as a flautist, Brazilian Jazz singer, and music teacher. The author of ten widely translated books, including five novels and a collection of short stories, she was awarded the José Saramago Prize in 2003 for Sinfonia em branco (Symphony in White, TTUP, 2009). Her books have been published in France, Italy, Sweden, and Mexico, among other countries, and she has translated into Portuguese such authors as Cormac McCarthy and Marilynne Robinson. She currently lives in Colorado.

Sarah Green, who holds degrees from the University of Texas and Stanford University, is a translator and interpreter based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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