In 1815, a 5-year-old girl searches for Utopia in a post-Napoleonic Europe.
The girl, an abandoned love child, finds and then loses her beloved father. Will they ever find each other again? A touching tale of heartache told through a child’s eyes with truth, love, humor and a bit of magic.
Sofia-Elisabete is “[a] sparkling, robust young hero with a distinctive voice—a real winner” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
Sofia-Elisabete, the illegitimate child of Colonel Fitzwilliam, is a five-year-old firecracker with a true heart, an irrepressible spirit and a passion to be the best drummer girl. An inquisitive child, she senses the dark secrets surrounding her mysterious beginnings as a foundling in Portugal and the strange goings on in the tangled-up world of her troubled father, who adores her while harboring a great affection for someone called Mr. O.P. Umm.
Who is the enchanting Doña Marisa, who lures Sofia-Elisabete away in a search of the perfect world in the moon? Heartsick at being separated from her father, Sofia-Elisabete embarks on an odyssey in a post-Napoleonic continent in the company of Doña Marisa and her ragtag retinue, determined to find the utopia on the moon—a magical place where no one is ever sick or sad—and which she fervently believes will cure her father’s bouts with melancholy. Will Sofia-Elisabete’s childish innocence survive this emotional journey to find the perfect moon world?
I, Sofia-Elisabete, in part, reimagines the life and destiny of Colonel Fitzwilliam, the curiously evasive and opaque character in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
I, Sofia-Elisabete was named to Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Books of 2018. The book received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. The books reviews average 4.17 on Goodreads and 4.60 on Amazon.
My first memory, thinks I, was of an old, wrinkled nun named Sister Matilde as she and I rode her burrinho, a burrinho named Bento, meaning ‘blessed’, in a land far away, in the mountains high above Monchique. She prodded Bento with her heels and cried out ‘Allez! Allez!’ in French, for she was born an age ago somewhere near Paris and had fled France during the revolution. Together we merrily sang ‘Arre burrinho, Arre burrinho’ as we rode down the green hillside, atop of which stood the ancient but poor Convento de Nossa Senhora do Desterro – Our Lady of Exile – much of it in ruins after the great earthquake of 1755.
‘Minha Sofia, if you are a good little girl,’ Sister Matilde tapped me on the nose, ‘I shall reward you with a lemon ice or a fresh fig.’
‘Ice! Ice!’ cried I with joy, because no three-year-old wanted to eat a squashy fig if an ice could be had.
In the market-town of Monchique, Sister Matilde placed me near the door of the mercearia, the grocer’s shop, where I stood beside the other beggars. I kissed my palms, and I held out my hands to passers-by, many of whom became seized with pity for this anjinho, this tattered little angel adorned with wild jonquils in her hair, and they gave me a réis.
I was born in Lisbon, on the third of June, 1810, amidst the turmoil of warfare, where thousands and thousands of country peasants crowded into the city to escape Napoleon’s Le Grande Armée. My natural father, being a brave British officer, suffered an injury in Sobral, and while he recovered in Lisbon, he learnt of my existence and then he disappeared. ‘War and circumstance separated us,’ he used to say. Should you wonder, I am no longer a bebé, being now a proper young lady of twelve years.
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Norberta Silva
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Author review: Norberta did an excellent job translating my book. She took the extra steps to research matters and add over 40 footnotes to the text to help Brazilian Portuguese readers. She also asked me many excellent questions so that I could clarify phrases, etc. for her. She has a true love of literature. I highly recommend Norberta to others. |
