Controle
Control
by Natalia Borges Polesso
Companhia das Letras, 2019
176 pages
14×21 cm
A short, deep and delightful novel about the choices that need to be made to become who we want to be. The story of a girl trying to find herself and her place in the world through illness, willpower and through the love for the only girl she has ever called friend.
What does it mean to feel different? Natalia Borges Polesso wrote an impactful novel about the power of challenge and the difficulties of finding our true self in the middle of big and small everyday problems. Mixing to the text the lyrics of New Order and other 80’s and 90’s bands’ songs, the author shapes a generational novel able to deeply connect with the readers.
The protagonist, Nanda, is epileptic. She first discovered her condition during early childhood, after a bicycle fall: after that first episode, her life could never be the same again. She grew up surrounded by the overwhelming care of her parents, afraid of leaving that protective shell and yet feeling trapped by her condition. The fear to be rejected by her friends pushes her to start avoiding human contact, and her room becomes the golden cage in which she surrounds herself with a shield of music. The only person she lets into her world is her friend Joana. The years pass by and Nanda keeps wondering how happy she actually is in that warm and constant routine. While her friendship with Joana evolves into something more similar to love, her questions become more and more pressing: after all, is it worse to take the risk and live or to stay put in that safe environment, maybe discovering too late that it was the wrong choice?
Here you can download an English BOOK PROFILE
«Few writers can easily switch between short stories and novels. Natalia Borges Polesso is one of them. Author of the award winning short stories collection Amora, with Controle she took her first step into the world of novels: the result is a beautiful, powerful and transformative narration.»
Carola Saavedra, Brazilian writer
Here you can take a look at Natalia Borges Polesso’s most recent appearance on The Guardian.
Finalist of the Prêmio São Paulo 2020.
Rights sold: World Spanish
Rights available in all other territories
Represented in collaboration with MTS Agência
Natalia Borges Polesso is a Brazilian writer and journalist and a PhD in Literary Theory. Her third short story collection, Amora – an exploration of the many different shades of homoaffective relations between women – won the Jabuti Prize 2016.The rights of Amora were sold to Argentina (Odelia), Spain (Raspabook) and USA (Amazon Crossing). In 2017 she was named among the Bogota39, a list of the most promising young writers in Latin America. Her short stories appeared on Electric Magazine, Bogotá39: Nuevas voces de ficcion lationoamericana and Latin American Literature Today. Controle is her firs novel.
* For any info about Natalia Borges Polesso’s other publications please contact us at info@redondobooks.com *
