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Title details for The Wind Whistling in the Cranes by Lídia Jorge - Available

The Wind Whistling in the Cranes

A Novel

by Lídia Jorge
Margaret Jull Costa
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
This breathtaking saga, set in the 1990s, tells the story of the landlords and tenants of a derelict canning factory in southern Portugal. The wealthy, always-scheming Leandros have owned the building since before the Carnation Revolution, a peaceful coup that toppled a four-decade-long dictatorship and led to Portugal's withdrawal from its African colonies. It was Leandro matriarch Dona Regina who handed the keys to the Matas, the bustling family from Cape Verde who saw past the dusty machinery and converted the space into a warm—and welcoming—home.
When Dona Regina is found dead outside the factory on a holiday weekend, her granddaughter, Milene, investigates. Aware that her aunts and uncles, who are off on vacation, will berate her inability to articulate what has just happened, she approaches the factory riddled with anxiety. Hours later, the Matas return home to find this strange girl hiding behind their clotheslines, and with caution, they take her in . . .
Days later, the Leandros realize that Milene has become hopelessly entangled with their tenants, and their fear of political and financial ruin sets off a series of events that threatens to uproot the lives of everyone involved.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 8, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781666182972
      • File size: 552983 KB
      • Duration: 19:12:02

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 6, 2021
      Jorge (The Painter of Birds) delivers a captivating Romeo and Juliet–style love story set in the Algarve of Portugal and wrapped in the saga of a country politically altered by postcolonial migration following the Carnation Revolution of 1974. Workers are taking control of factories and farms, selling machinery, and ruining businesses. By 1984, defunct cannery Fabrica de Conservas Leandro is home to the Matas, a family of Cape Verde immigrants who rent from Dona Regina Leandro. After the Leandro matriarch wanders out of an ambulance wearing a nightgown at a gas station and staggers to the gates of the Old Factory, where she dies, her granddaughter, Milene, seeks the truth behind the unexplainable events. Dominoes fall quickly once the Matas find Milene, “the white person,” hiding in the courtyard. After Milene meets the widowed Antonino Mata, circumstances become the “absolute monarchs” of Milene’s and Antonio’s lives as their devious family members try to keep them apart. Meanwhile, developers swarm around the canning factory and the future looks uncertain for the community. Throughout, Jorge blends the personal drama with insight on the compounding social issues, making the account sing on several levels. The result is brilliant and trenchant.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      As one might expect, this eighteen-hour audiobook reveals its story slowly. The premise is an interesting one. It tells the stories of the people whose lives are centered around a factory building in Portugal. That said, those stories are revealed with painstaking slowness and frequent repetition. Campbell employs her usual skill with the narration, but the action is still difficult to lose oneself in. Campbell's voice is as competent and clear as always, her phrasing and pace steady and easy to follow. The content and structure, though, are inconsistent and perhaps not well suited to the audio format. The characters remain one-dimensional and distant. Overall, the audiobook fails to gain enough momentum to keep the listener engaged. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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