The return

Everyone has gone away... Luanda, 1975. The Angolan War of Independence has been ongoing for a decade, and with the collapse of the Salazar dictatorship, defeat for the Portuguese is imminent. Thousands of settlers flee back to Portugal to escape the brutality of the rebels. Fifteen-year-old Rui, who has lived in Luanda all his life and never visited Portugal, faces mixed feelings of excitement and dread as his family prepares to return. Just before their departure, Rui's father is taken by the rebels, forcing the family to leave without him. Uncertain of his father's fate, Rui, his mother, and sister attempt to rebuild their lives in a luxurious hotel in a quiet Lisbon suburb, where returnee families are crammed into opulent rooms. This lavish setting starkly contrasts their harsh reality, as the hotel becomes a purgatory while they wait to learn their fate, acutely aware that they are not welcomed back in their homeland. Rui grapples with his new life: growing up, dropping out of school, facing discrimination, and worrying about his mother's declining health and his father's unknown fate. Then, one night, Rui's father returns from the dead. Translated from the Portuguese by Ángel Gurría-Quintana.