Why a Booktrail?
1938: A historical and fictional account of a key time in Portugal history
Pereira Maintains
What you need to know before your trail
Portugal 1938 is a country under the Fascist shadow of Spain.
Dr. Peirera, an editor at a Lisbon newspaper, wants nothing to do with any of it and is quite happy translating French stories and having a photo of his late wife to talk to.
However, all of this changes when he meets Francesco Monteiro Rossi,as he gives him work but then finds out that he’s using the money to recruit for the anti-Franco International Brigade.
Travel Guide
Setting – Portugal in 1938. Salazar’s government at a pivotal point in Portuguese history.
This is a testimony of that period and from the first line it’s clear why the novel is called Pereira maintains although not completely clear until the end. Dr Pereira is stuck in a situation that many must have shared in Portugal in the late 1930s. this was a dark period in the history of the country.
Then he reads the work of Rossi and finds himself supporting or at least empathising with the dissidents. He tries to reason with himself and explain the events that are happening in Portugal and countries around him such as Spain as the wave of fascism flows freely.
Franco and what happened in Spain might be well documented but this was a unique read on the Portuguese angle. It makes you sit and think.
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