Dear friend, you won’t know it but it is after what feels like months that I return to reviewing a book. Life may be changing but what is unchanged is my draw to translated books. I love stories originally written in another language and translated into one that I can read. Today, I am on tour for The Curse of the Flores Women by Angélica Lopes, translated by Zoë Perry. Here is what this book is about:
Angélica Lopes, Zoë Perry (Translator) | Goodreads
In this haunting novel about the enduring bonds of womanhood, a young girl weaves together the truth behind her family history and the secrets that resonate through generations.
Eighteen-year-old Alice Ribeiro is constantly fighting―against the status quo, female oppression in Brazil, and even her own mother. But when a family veil is passed down to her, Alice is compelled to fight for the rights of all womankind while also uncovering the hidden history of the women in her family.
Seven generations ago, the small town of Bom Retiro shunned the Flores women because of a “curse” that rendered them unlucky in love. With no men on the horizon to take care of them, the women learned the art of lacemaking to build lives of their own. But their peace was soon threatened by forces beyond any woman’s control.
As Alice begins piecing together the tapestry that is her history, she discovers revelations about the past, connections to the present, and a resilience in her blood that will carry her toward the future her ancestors strove for.
Content notes include sexual content, violence, domestic abuse.
The Curse of the Flores Women – Book Review
The Curse of the Flores Women is a beautifully written intergeneration story. It begins with an act of rebellion in 1918. A young woman spies her cousin making lace, a secret guarded by the church. She takes her keen observations to her friends, a family of women who go by the Flores. Their true last name has much history to it and since, they have changed it but in the small town of Bom Retiro, the house that they call home has become their identification. These women create a successful business of selling lace to all who want it, creating beautiful blankets, tablecloths, wedding veils and much more.
In the 2010s Brazil, the book Alice, a young woman who has a stressful relationship with her mother. At eighteen years of age, she knows the rights she is fighting for and the world she wants to live in. When a visit from a distant cousin brings a beautiful lace veil in her possession, her curiosity eventually leads her on a journey to find out more about her ancestors, the women who came long before her who valued this lace veil enough to pass it down from one to the next.
At the heart of The Curse of the Flores Women is a friendship. Inês Cândida is gifted at making lace. She lives with her mother, sister and aunt in Bom Retiro. Her best friend Eugênia is the daughter of a prominent man in town and is imagined to have a smooth life but she still helps out with lace making. When Eugênia’s engagement is set with a man older than her, a widower who has two children, she is frustrated with the course life is taking for her. But time is not on her side and she is unable to break free of the engagement.
Eugênia is not one to keep quiet though. She may not be able to share her grievances with her friend openly but she is smart and creates an intricate code using the stitches of lace to continue to give her friend an honest insight, and later, a plea for help. This lace veil is the most important artifact in this story and as the narrative in the 1900s unfolded, I loved all that it represented. It is a token of friendship, an act of rebellion, a symbol of freedom but most importantly it is the story of brave women who while facing horrible circumstances, did not back down.
The story in 1918 is narrated from the point of Inês and shows the deep love she has for her friend. She would go to any length to help her. Part of the plot is an elaborate escape plan for Eugênia to break free of the life she has been forced in. Alice’s perspective in 2010 helps keep the story mysterious because so many generations have passed since the veil was made by Eugênia and the events that finally led to Alice inheriting it. Though the name of the book makes it sound like it is about the curse of the Flores women, I loved how Eugênia is a huge part of without being a Flores at all.
There are many characters in this book and each became beloved to me in their unique way. Tia Firmina and her self righteousness, Inês’ sister’s love and care and Inês’mother’s fortitude stood out to me. Another friend, Vitorina, the one who actually pried the secrets of lace making from her cousin, plays a timeless role in this story and brings everything together so well.
Once Alice understands the story behind the veil, she makes efforts to share it with the world. It was beautiful how it linked to her own ideas of freedom and the connection it offered her to her ancestors.
The Curse of the Flores Women tugged at my heartstrings. I got invested in a close knit circle of women. If you are interested to learn about some history of Brazil and women rights, give this one a read.
About Angélica and Zoë
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Angélica Lopes is a novelist, screenwriter, and journalist from Rio de Janeiro with over twenty years of experience in writing fiction. Her dramatic vein came from writing Brazilian soap operas, known worldwide for attracting millions of viewers daily. She is also an award-winning author of YA novels and has written scripts for cinema, TV series, and comedy shows. The Curse of the Flores Women is her first adult novel and was sold for translation in France and Italy even before being published in her native Brazil.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR: Zoë Perry has translated the work of several contemporary Brazilian authors, including Emilio Fraia, Ana Paula Maia, Juliana Leite, Clara Drummond, Veronica Stigger, and Carol Bensimon. Her translations have appeared in the Paris Review, the New Yorker, Granta, Astra, n+1, and the New York Times. Perry’s translation of Ana Paula Maia’s Of Cattle and Men was awarded an English PEN grant, and she received a PEN/Heim grant for her translation of Veronica Stigger’s Opisanie swiata (Desription of the World). She is currently based in Miami.
Many thanks to Over the River PR for giving me a chance to highlight this book on my blog in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for reading my thoughts. 🙂
Check out other reviewers on the tour:
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