On what would have been the seventy-fifth birthday of Anthony Barcellos, a quiet and luminous voice returns to us—not in echo, but in presence. With the publication of Count Me Out: The Education of Paul Francisco, Bruma Publications, in partnership with Moonwater Editions, offers not merely a book, but a continuation: of memory, of language, of a life lived attentively between cultures.

This novel arrives as both companion and counterpoint to Land of Milk and Money, the earlier work through Tagus Press. If that first novel mapped the collective struggles of Azorean immigrants in California’s Central Valley, Count Me Out turns inward—toward the formation of a mind, the shaping of a sensibility, the slow awakening of a boy who observes before he belongs. It is, in many ways, a prelude, a parallel life, a narrative that runs alongside and beneath the visible story of immigration, revealing its interior architecture.

Set in the great expanse of the San Joaquin Valley—a landscape of dairies, dust, language, and labor—the novel stands as a testament to the Azorean diaspora in California. Here, Portuguese is the language of home, of prayer, of grandmotherly wisdom, while English arrives as both necessity and disruption. Here, identity is not declared but negotiated—between the barn and the classroom, between catechism and curiosity, between expectation and deviation.

Paul Francisco, Barcellos’s fictional alter ego, is not the hero of a conventional coming-of-age story. He is something rarer: an observer. A child who sees too much, thinks too deeply, and belongs just slightly askew. A square peg, as Barcellos himself described, in a world of carefully carved circles. Through him, we encounter the subtle tensions of diaspora life—not as grand conflict, but as lived experience: in the mispronounced word, the classroom confusion, the quiet pride of heritage, the unspoken pressure to conform.

And yet, this is not a novel of alienation. It is a novel of continuity. Of how families endure, how traditions persist, how identities are carried forward—not as relics, but as living, evolving inheritances. It reminds us that the Portuguese-American experience in California is not only a story of labor and migration, but also of intellect, of culture, of interior lives shaped in the in-between.

The publication of Count Me Out is itself an act of devotion. A work begun in the early 2000’s, now brought into the world with care, precision, and profound respect. It is impossible to speak of this book without offering a heartfelt and enduring gratitude to Katharine F. Baker, whose tireless editorial work honored Anthony Barcellos in the most faithful way possible—attending to every detail as he would have, preserving the cadence of his voice, the clarity of his thought, the integrity of his vision.

Our deepest thanks also extend to Tom Barcellos, whose generosity and support made this publication possible, allowing this manuscript to move from private memory into shared legacy. And to Avelina da Silveira, whose elegant layout work and partnership through Moonwater Editions ensure that this book travels—across oceans, across generations—available to readers in the United States and Europe alike.

What emerges, then, is more than a novel. It is a gesture of cultural continuity. A bridge between the Azores and California, between past and present, between the lived and the remembered. It is, in the truest sense, a contribution to the ongoing narrative of the Portuguese-American experience—a reminder that our stories are not finished when we are gone, but continue in the words we leave behind.

To read Count Me Out is to enter a world both specific and universal: a Portuguese-American boy in the Central Valley, yes—but also the timeless human story of becoming. Of learning how to see, how to question, how to belong.

On this anniversary, Bruma Publications does more than commemorate a birthday. It affirms a legacy. And in doing so, it ensures that Anthony Barcellos is, indeed, not counted out—but counted forward.

Diniz Borges

Count Me Out is available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback and eBook formats: https://www.amazon.com/Count-Me-Out-Education-Francisco-ebook/dp/B0GNC8DHF4/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0

Here is an excerpt: