Torto Arado

In the Bahian backlands of Chapada Diamantina, sisters Bibiana and Belonísia discover an old knife hidden in their grandmother's suitcase — and in the shock of being caught, accidentally sever Belonísia's tongue, condemning her to a lifetime of silence. As they grow into adulthood on a farm where their family has lived under conditions of contemporary slave labor for three decades, the sisters' paths diverge sharply: Belonísia settles into the rhythms of the land and their father Zeca Chapéu Grande's world, while Bibiana comes to see the injustice of their servitude and leaves to fight for land rights and worker emancipation.

Told in alternating, polyphonic voices centered on women, Itamar Vieira Junior's novel weaves ancestral secrets, Afro-Brazilian spirituality, and the long shadow of slavery into a story of struggle, silence, and redemption. Torto Arado won Brazil's top literary prizes and became an international bestseller.