Angélica Lopes is the author of the new novel The Curse of the Flores Women. The novel was translated from Portuguese to English by Zoë Perry. Lopes is also a screenwriter, journalist, and author of young adult fiction, and she is from Brazil.
Q: What inspired you to write The Curse of the Flores Women, and how did you create your character Alice Ribeiro?
A: I wanted to write a book about the invisible communication between women and the different channels victims of domestic violence must find in order to ask for help.
From this initial premise, I created a dynasty of women, the Flores family, all the way from the early 1900s to present day.
Alice is a young woman, the youngest of the family, inspired by my 20-year-old daughter's generation. She expresses herself without fear, fights for women's rights, but still understands that there is much to be done.
The story begins when she inherits a veil and discovers its lace stitches tell a story through a secret code. With this, she sets out on retracing her past and unraveling the mystery of what happened to her ancestors.
Q: Did you need to do any research to write the novel, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: Since it is a historical novel, set in the Brazilian countryside in the 1900s, I researched a lot about the region and the period. During the research I discovered the work of one of Brazil's first feminists, Maria Amélia de Queiróz, and included her as a character.
I also set out to learn lace stitching and manual arts as part of my process. I took embroidery and crochet classes to better understand the practice of lace making, especially the way you start to experience time and movement as you're doing it.
Q: What do you think the story says about family history?
A: My great-grandmother was born in a small town in the Northeast of Brazil, the region the book is set in, but my grandfather moved to the big city, and settled down in Rio de Janeiro. This universe of the countryside and its way of life was present in my childhood through my family's stories, and it seemed kind of magical to me.
The story of the curse itself is actually based on a legend that my mother told me and my siblings about our own family, which I adapted for the book’s context. So, family history influenced me greatly to write this story.
The Curse is a tale of the value of reconnecting with your roots. Alice learns a different sort of strength from her female ancestors and gains a new perspective on her own journey and her identity.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the novel?
A: The novel is based on the idea of connection. Just like a thread connects one stitch to another, we are all connected by bonds, whether familial, historical, or emotional, human.
Our history doesn't begin with us, nor does it end with us. Our lifelines go forward, sideways, but always connected, just like lace. That's the feeling that I hope readers can take away from the book.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'm currently working on my next novel that's about a family in the 1950s dealing with issues regarding motherhood and marriage infidelity.
I also work for Brazilian TV, and I am currently immersed in a soap opera that coincidentally also takes place in the Northwestern region, in a little town like the one in the book, and the one where my great-grandmother grew up.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Brazil is internationally known for its beaches and the Amazon rainforest, but my book is set in a slightly different setting, in the nearly desert Northwest where life is very harsh. There the rain is scarce and only the strong survive, it's a cruel, difficult place, especially in the period the book is set in.
I like that the book shows this other, less known side of Brazil, and I hope that the readers find it engaging.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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