First published 2015
Ludo suffers from agoraphobia when Angola prepares for independence from Portugal. She makes a drastic choice: she bricks up her apartment in a luxury Luanda building and seals herself inside. For three decades, she survives by growing vegetables on her balcony and catching pigeons, which she attracts using diamonds as bait. When her furniture runs out, she burns her books for warmth. She records her experiences by writing directly on the apartment walls. From her window, Ludo observes the people below as Angola transforms around her. Their individual stories weave together to form the larger narrative of a nation in transition. The novel presents Angola's post-independence history through this unusual lens of isolation and observation. Ludo's extreme withdrawal becomes a way of witnessing her country's evolution from a unique vantage point, creating an intimate portrait of both personal and political survival.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, african-literature, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator, witness
Setting: Angola, Luanda
Period: 20th-century, post-independence
250 pages · Paperback · Archipelago