Nourished by (more or less) ordinary existences, “The Elderly” nevertheless offers the experience of the unusual and the excessive because the novel emanates the “raw nakedness of truth.” This truth sets the tone for the book’s pages, creeps up on the reader, and makes them sympathize with the lives built up and that we follow at various stages, especially old age. Among the inhabitants of an old people’s home, all of whom have fallen into a state of sadness, loneliness, and hopelessness, Maria de Fátima, Ernestina dos Anjos, and Bernardo Augusto, whose lives are the subject of study, stand out throughout the book. At the nursing home, in their old age, these (and other) characters find the reverse of what the word home should mean. Alone, although the space is that of many men and women, disillusioned, forgotten from life, and lost in hope, the characters realize that the nursing home is the last phase of what life was like, a phase of abandonment. However, apparently, they lack nothing – flowers, sunshine, laughter, and love. Alongside the present tense of the characters mentioned, there is a flashback to their past. From the present day, we move to the thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies of the 20th century. Maria de Fátima is the character who represents the typical woman of the years mentioned above, resilient in her role as daughter, wife, and mother. Ernestina dos Anjos is a woman marked by misfortune from birth and, as an adult, is the victim of the most brutal forces of domestic violence. Bernardo Augusto is an idealist who fights against and is victimized by the Estado Novo. We are faced with the diversity of the human. More relevant, however, is the ambiance of the present in the nursing home, where the elderly go because they are frail, don’t fit into the modern home structure, or because they have no other option and where they lose track of time because each day is the same as the last and they forget to hope and joy. “The Elderly” is a novel that is a portrait of our times, described with crudeness and force of language, in which time is too precious to ‘waste’ on those who supposedly have nothing to offer. Although the narrator makes plenty of comments, there are no moralisms in the book’s pages – these are left up to the reader. (translation from a synopsis of the book done originally in Portuguese).

This publication is yet another joint venture of Bruma Publications (PBBI-Fresno State) with edições Letras Lavadas.

Author

Paula de Sousa Lima was born in Lisbon to Azorean parents and has lived in the Azores since the age of six, with a brief stint in Mozambique.
She has a Modern Languages and Literatures degree and a master’s degree in Portuguese Literature. A secondary school teacher, she taught in higher education for over a decade. Higher Education for over a decade. She has published articles on literature, language, and didactics in specialist journals as part of her academic research.
She has regularly contributed to newspapers with chronicles and articles on literature and language for several years. For many years, he wrote a fortnightly column in Açoriano Oriental, a fortnightly column entitled “Penso, logo escrevo,” and currently writes the column ‘Lições de Português.’
She has been a Regional Reading Plan Coordinating Committee member since 2011.  She is the co-author of a grammar book (Explicações de Português), published by ASA.
She has published short stories, novels, poetry and chronicles. In the area of short stories, he has published around two dozen in newspapers and in the
NEO, Insulana, Transeatlântico and Grotta magazines, she is represented in collections and is the author of O outro lado do mundo (Daniel de Sá Prize 2016) and Pretérito quase perfeito e outros contos (Companhia das Ilhas). She has published seven novels: Crónica dos senhores do Lenho (Macaronésia), Variações em dor maior (Seara Verde), Tempo adiado (ASA, LeYa), Os últimos dias de Pôncio Pilatos (Casa das Letras, LeYa), Mas Deus não dá licença que partiramos (Letras Lavadas) and O Paraíso (Finalist LeYa Prize, Casa das Letras, LeYa) and Os Velhos (Letras Lavadas). In poetry, the works Quando eu mover a sombra das montanhas (Letras Lavadas), and co-authored with Leonardo Sousa, Correspondência. In the field of chronicles, she has published the book Penso, logo escrevo (Letras Lavadas), a collection of texts published in the newspaper Açoriano Oriental. Her most recent work, Frente e Verso (Letras Lavadas), combines short stories and poetry.

Translator

Diniz Borges was born in Praia da Vitória, Terceira Island, Azores. At 10, he emigrated with his parents to the United States. He teaches and researches at California State University, Fresno, where he founded and directs the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI), with an amalgam of initiatives and projects, including the Fresno State Portuguese-American Oral History Project. He is a member of various Portuguese-American organizations.  He is a contributing writer for several newspapers in the Azores and the Azorean Diaspora in the United States and Canada.

The author of several books dedicated to political and cultural analysis of the USA and the Azorean Diaspora in North America. He has translated and published poetry, narrative fiction, and essays. He has coordinated and published several poetry anthologies. He is the director of the platforms filamentos (arts and letters in the Azorean Diaspora) and Novidades (the islands and the diaspora).