Overview

A vibrant tale of memory, resistance, and the enduring spirit of an island community This richly woven, multi-voiced novel transports readers to a small village on São Miguel, the largest of Portugal's Azores islands. Through the eyes of a young boy growing up in the 1940s, and the stories shared by his beloved great-uncle, Tio Pascoal, the novel paints a vivid portrait of island life--its beauty, its hardships, and its quiet defiance. As Tio Pascoal recounts his own youth at the start of the 20th century, we glimpse a world shaped by poverty, exploitation, and the heavy hands of church, landowners, and, later, the rise of Portugal's authoritarian regime. Yet amid these struggles, the resilience of the islanders shines through--in their music, their feast days, their customs, and the enduring ties between those who stayed behind and those who set sail for America. Told in a style alive with the rhythms and color of the local language--carefully rendered into English--Roots Stirred is both a coming-of-age story and a tribute to the rebellious spirit that endures across generations. By the time the young narrator prepares to leave his childhood behind, his uncle's stories have taken root within him, carrying forward the memory of their people and the islands they call home.

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9781951470333

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Cristóvão de Aguiar was born in 1940 and brought up on the island of São Miguel in the Azores, and died in Coimbra in 2021. He completed his secondary education in the Azores before leaving for Portugal to study for a degree in English and German at the University of Coimbra. His studies were interrupted when he was called up for military service, spent in the then territory of Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau), an experience which formed the basis of his colonial war novel, O Braço Tatuado (The Tattooed Arm). He worked as a teacher in Coimbra, and is the author of numerous short stories, novels, and poetry. David Brookshaw is an emeritus professor in Luso-Brazilian Studies at the University of Bristol, UK. He has translated a number of Lusophone authors, including novels by Mia Couto and Paulina Chiziane (Mozambique), and Pepetela (Angola), and has compiled anthologies of translated short stories by writers from Portugal and Macau, as well as contributing translations to magazines and other edited works. A number of his translations of the fiction of Mia Couto have been shortlisted for the Booker International Prize and the Dublin International Literary Award. His translation of Raul Brandão's As Ilhas Desconhecidas was published by Tagus Press in 2020.

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