Suneeta Peres da Costa
Saudade
“Saudade will leave you feeling lost and homesick for a place of your own. Peres Da Costa paints a vivid picture of a young girl’s internal world and shows us how precarious, damaging and lonely an othered existence can be. Saudade is a beautifully written, enlightening read.”
Giramondo Publishing, 2018
A coming-of-age story set in Angola in the period leading up to the colony’s independence, Saudade focuses on a Goan immigrant family caught between complicity in Portuguese rule, and their dependence on the Angolans who are their servants. The title speaks to the melancholy longing for homeland that haunts the characters, and especially the young girl who is the book’s protagonist and narrator.
Suneeta Peres da Costa’s novella captures with intense lyricism the difficult relationship between the girl and her mother, and the ways in which their intimate world is shaken by domestic violence, the legacies of slavery and the end of empire. Her intellectual awakening unfolds into a growing awareness of the lies of colonialism, and the violent political ruptures that ultimately lead to her father’s death, and their exile.
About the Author
Suneeta Peres da Costa was born in Sydney, on Gadigal land of the Eora, and is of Goan heritage. She writes fiction, non-fiction, plays and poetry. Her books include the novella Saudade (shortlisted for the 2019 Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature), The Prodigal, and Homework. Her honours include fellowships and residencies from Asialink Arts, the Australia Council for the Arts, Varuna, MacDowell, the Yaddo Corporation and the Fulbright Program. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, New York.