A Small, Perfect Place
A Novel of Brazil
by
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A Small, Perfect Place tells of an embittered American who flees to Brazil in the 1970s, during the military dictatorship, with a pouch of stolen money to buy a beach house and support his retirement in an idyllic fishing village. After a disastrous beginning in the village he falls in love with it and with the sister of his best Brazilian friend, spends most of his stolen money on village projects, struggles with exploiters of the land he hopes to purchase and unwittingly becomes involved with his friend’s–and his friend’s sister’s–campaign to bring down the government.
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About the Book
It’s the tumultuous 1970s, and Truman DeVoto has had it with America. A failed marriage, a two-faced brother, the Nixon presidency, the Vietnam War—the country is going down the drain and he’s bailing. With a pouch of stolen money, he sets out for Brazil, expecting to buy a cozy beach house from a Brazilian friend, blend into a fishing village and work on his tan.
But the country is under the control of a military dictatorship. Even his fishing village may not be a perfect fit. Then he discovers a secret about his Brazilian friend and his sister and, because of them, Truman abandons his dream of a peaceful retirement, and becomes involved in a movement to take down the government of his new home.
Although modern Brazil is an exuberantly democratic, successful, country, in the 1970s, it was overrun with poverty, illiteracy, and one of the world’s worst distributions of wealth. A Small, Perfect Place is a fictional account of this turbulent period, when Brazil regained its soul through the long struggle of its revolutionaries, many of whom are presently the country’s political leaders.
About the Author
Arnold S. Gordenstein is a prize-winning literature professor with a Harvard PhD in American Civilization. After a Fulbright Professorship in Rio de Janeiro, he taught in Brazil for fifteen years during the military dictatorship, married a Brazilian, raised four children, and began writing fiction. He currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts.