"A wonderful mix of magical realism and wordplay that has a similar tone to Marquez at his best. Couto writes in an idiom all his own that feels authentically African."--Ink

In Mozambique after the end of the civil war, local soldiers have been unaccountably blown up. When it begins to happen to UN peacekeepers, a high-level delegation visits the village of Tizangara to initiate an investigation. As the UN investigation unfolds, Mia Couto brilliantly shows how the perceptions of events both inside and outside the country are altered when interpreted from an African...

"On almost every page of this witty magical realist whodunit, we sense Couto's delight on those places where language slips officialdom's asphyxiating grasp."--The New York Times Book Review on The Last Flight of the Flamingo

"The most prominent of the younger generation of writers in Portuguese-speaking Africa, Couto passionately and sensitively describes everyday life in poverty-stricken Mozambique."--Guardian (London)

"Quite unlike anything else I have read from Africa."--Doris Lessing

As the civil war rages in 1980s Mozambique, an old man and a...

"An original and fresh tale, quite unlike anything else I have read from Africa. I enjoyed it very much."--Doris Lessing

"A peculiarily African sensibility . . . a writer of fluid, fragmentary narratives. . . . Remarkable."--New Statesman

A police inspector is investigating a strange murder--a case in which all the suspects are eager to claim responsibility for the act.

Set in a former Portuguese slave fort, Under the Frangipani combines fable and allegory, dreams and myths with an earthy humor. Part thriller, part an exploration of language itself, Mia...