José Maria Ferreira de Castro was a Portuguese writer and journalist. At age 12, he immigrated to Brazil, where his work at a rubber plantation for the following four years would be the inspiration for his most famous book, A Selva (1930; The Jungle; filmed 2002 - http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0210971/). He returned to Portugal in 1919, and started working as a journalist. He was a noted oppositionist to António de Oliveira Salazar. He was also famous for his travel literature, namely his book A Volta ao Mundo, recounting his travels around the world in the outset of World War II.