THE AZOREAN SLAVE

The year is 1873 and the world is run by men who spit onto the ground. Excited to escape this world, Rosário, like so many women, hides behind an enormous black cloak and hood. She’s an irreverent teenager who defies male conventions: she steals, runs barefoot, fist fights, and even dares to kiss her fiancé in public. When the day ends, she reads books and recites the rosary with her mother.

The Azores Islands where she was born are a mixture of charm and scarcity, distant from the Kingdom and the empty promises of the Crown. Banking on this, scalpers seduce Azoreans to immigrate to the Brazilian Empire with promises of riches and a new life. Rosário and her mother hand over everything they own and embark on a journey of darkness.

The ocean voyage is dreadful; a flock of people crammed onto a ship, wallowing in their own filth. After arriving in Brazil, life in Rio de Janeiro is a daily ordeal, as Rosário is made a slave and sees her future disappear. Abused and raped, she feels hopeless and needs to react, but that means becoming a totally different person.