Orphans of Eldorado

A magical retelling of the myth of Eldorado, the Enchanted City of the Amazon, by one of Brazil's most acclaimed writers

'Hatoum is a tough and gifted novelist: he is able simultaneously to render the richness and strangeness of the amazonian vegetation and the melting pot of cultures in it, and to tell a human tale that is complex and wry and
occasionally terrible.' A.S. Byatt

'One of South America's leading contemporary novelists.' Guardian

Arminto Cordovil has inherited a fortune, and with it control of his father's shipping empire. But when a freighter, The Eldorado, crashes in the lower reaches of the Amazon, its shipwrecked hull seems tied to Arminto's destiny. He will soon discover his father's cunning and the disastrous consequences it will have for his own young life.

Orphans of Eldorado is a magical retelling of a legendary expedition. From the vibrant port of Manaus, through the lush heart of the Amazon, Hatoum takes us on a quest for our greatest desires.

The setting for this magical fable is Eldorado, the Enchanted city that inhabited the fevered dreams of European navigators and conquistadors, but eluded all attempts to find it on the map. Some have linked it to Manaus in the Amazon Basin, and it is here that Arminto Cordovil lives with his father Amando in a white mansion.

Theirs is a relationship full of passion and limitless ambition. Separating father and son is a remarkable cast of characters, from Angelina, the dead mother, to Denisio, the infernal boatman, and at the centre, Dinaura, a girl who betwitches Arminto and dreams of Eldorado...

Orphans of Eldorado is a rich and magical fable that beautifully captures the atmosphere of the steamy, lush Amazonian world.