Francisco Duarte Mangas - A Arte de Roubar Fruta

In Vilar de Piscos, a wealthy farmer is murdered in his home by members of the anti-Franco guerrillas. The guerrilla attack on Portuguese territory provokes a joint action by the political police of Salazar and Franco: it culminates, two days before Christmas 1946, in the siege and bombing of Cambedo, a border village where the guerrilla commanders take refuge. Parallel to this narrative, another unfolds in São Bento das Gavieiras, during the "Hot Summer." How is the Revolution experienced in a village in Minho? How does the far-right bombing network operate in the remote areas? The narratives intersect; some characters traverse both historical periods. Because evil is timeless, says Armindo Pega, the man of strange words, friend of Justiniano, a servant, terrified of the communists who want to eat his left ear. The Art of Stealing Fruit, where the passion of words is ever-present, is a novel about courage—of men and women who resisted fascist violence in Portugal and the neighboring country.