Reading Club – “The Salt Line”, by Katherine Vaz
Bookings/Information
* Cost of a call to the national landline network
- Advance booking required. Free participation.
- Maximum of 15 participants.
In the 1840s, on the island of Madeira, the botanist Augusto Freitas tells his adopted daughter, young Maria, that her parents live at the bottom of the sea, where they play among the marine creatures.
It is a kind-hearted invention, surrounding the girl with the “joyful melancholy that is the source of warmth in the Portuguese soul”. This feeling accompanies her throughout her life and during her turbulent relationship with her great love, John Alves. The son of a well-known victim of religious persecution, John knows little beyond poverty and isolation. Everything changes when he meets Maria.
A strong and, they believe, everlasting bond quickly develops between the two children. However, violent clashes between Catholics and Protestants force their families into exile, separating them. Years later, they meet again as immigrants in the United States, and surprise soon gives way to an overwhelming passion. Yet this is not the end of their story. Rather, it is only another beginning.
Set against the backdrop of the little-known religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants in nineteenth-century Madeira, The Salt Line is a tribute to the power of love and freedom. (Wook)
THIS ACTIVITY TAKES PLACE EXCLUSIVELY IN PORTUGUESE.
Schedule
- 24 September
