2026

After the success of The Weight of the Dead Bird and Small Choreography of Farewell, Aline Bei returns to explore themes like motherhood and childhood in A Delicate Collection of Absences, a moving novel about three women—granddaughter, grandmother, and great-grandmother—who must coexist in their individualities while sharing traumas and sorrows that span generations. In a humble house with an orange gate in Belva, grandmother and granddaughter live together. While Laura goes to school, plays with friends, and little by little says goodbye to childhood, Margarida reads palms at an antiques fair to provide for the family's livelihood. The grandmother devotes herself completely to caring for the girl, her strongest link to her daughter, with whom she has no contact. In the same way, Laura gives Margarida the boundless love of a child. The private universe of the two, however, breaks apart with the arrival of Filipa, Laura's great-grandmother and Margarida's mother. The elderly woman, who had lost the place where she lived, soon takes over the small rooms with her boxes and bitterness. The change in routine provokes immediate transformations. Laura finds herself alone, without the attention of the one she loves most, in addition to having to get used to the strange presence of her great-grandmother. Margarida, in turn, begins to dedicate herself entirely to caring for her mother. Overwhelmed by the increase in domestic tasks, she finds in Camilo, a friend from the fair, the help she needed to continue serving her clients. In this novel, Aline Bei observes women in detail: young and aging bodies, primitive desires, generational frustrations, the work of care, the countless forms of violence to which they are subjected. At the same time, as it could not be otherwise, the author investigates the unwavering feminine determination, the affections that save, and the strength to break free from sufferings that seem to have no end. "To open these pages is to let oneself be carried along many paths, from circus bleachers to closed rooms full of secrets, and to perceive, with all five senses, the life that unfolds there, not only as written word, but with its odors, flavors, textures, sounds of weeping or singing, lights and shadows." — Maria Valéria Rezende "Aline Bei confirms her mastery of the art of storytelling while inventing a poetic language that returns to writing the enchantment of voices that belong to us all." — Mia Couto