The Sword and the Spear

The Sword and the Spear - Paperback

$23.76
$23.76
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The Sword and the Spear
  • The Sword and the Spear
The Sword and the Spear - Paperback

The Sword and the Spear - Paperback

by Mia Couto
$23.76
$23.76

Book Overview

by Mia Couto (Author), David Brookshaw (Translator)

The second novel in the exhilarating Sands of the Emperor trilogy, following the Man Booker International Prize finalist Woman of the Ashes

Mozambique, 1895. After an attack on his quarters, the defeated Portuguese sergeant Germano de Melo needs to be taken to the hospital. The only one within reach is along the river Inhambane, so his lover Imani undertakes an arduous rescue mission, accompanied by her father and brother. Meanwhile, war rages between the Portuguese occupiers and Ngungunyane's warriors--battles waged with sword and spear, until the arrival of a devastating new weapon destined to secure European domination. Germano wants to start a new life with Imani, but the Portuguese military has other plans for the injured soldier. And Imani's father has his own plan for his daughter's future: as one of Ngungunyane's wives, she would be close enough to the tyrant to avenge the destruction of their village.

With elegance and compassion, Mia Couto's The Sword and the Spear illustrates the futility of war and the porous boundaries between apparently foreign cultures--boundaries of which entire societies, but also friends and lovers, conceive as simultaneously insuperable and in decline.

Author Biography

Mia Couto, born in Mozambique in 1955, is one of the most prominent writers in Portuguese-speaking Africa. After studying medicine and biology, he worked as a journalist and headed several Mozambican national newspapers and magazines. Couto has been awarded the Camões Prize for Literature and the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature, among other awards. He was also short-listed for the 2017 IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award and was a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize in 2015. He lives in Maputo, where he works as a biologist.

David Brookshaw is an emeritus professor at the School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol. He has translated several other books by Mia Couto, including Woman of the Ashes, Confession of the Lioness, The Tuner of Silences, A River Called Time, and Sleepwalking Land.
Number of Pages: 288
Dimensions: 0.65 x 8.25 x 5.5 IN
Publication Date: September 07, 2021
ISBN9781250800091
Author Mia Couto
PublisherPicador USA
GenreLiterature
FormatPaperback
PublishedSeptember 2021
LanguageENG- English
Pages288
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Fiction Historical Fiction Literary

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About Mia Couto

Mia Couto, born in Beira, Mozambique, in 1955, is one of the most prominent writers in Portuguese-speaking Africa. After studying medicine and biology in Maputo, he worked as a journalist and headed several Mozambican national newspapers and magazines. Couto has been awarded numerous literary prizes, including the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Camões Prize (the most prestigious Portuguese-language award), the Prémio Vergílio Ferreira, the Prémio União Latina de Literaturas Românicas, the FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages, and, most recently, the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. He lives in Maputo, where he works as a biologist. David Brookshaw is an emeritus professor at the School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol. He has translated numerous books by Mia Couto, including The Cartographer of Absences, The Drinker of Horizons, The Sword and the Spear, Woman of the Ashes, Confession of the Lioness, The Tuner of Silences, A River Called Time, and Sleepwalking Land.

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