When I was young, I had a song for every mood, every occasion; joy or heartbreak, it didn’t matter, I needed music in the background, I needed it pouring into my ears, my veins, my heart. Teresa, the main character in my book, Love Secrets Lies, was no different. The story dawns on Teresa still living in Mozambique, a land where summer never ends; where she and her mother sang along to the honeyed tropical sounds of Roberto …
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Friendship is about always supporting each other, but also about having fun together – and making the most of each occasion. Yesterday was a good example of that. As soon as I knew online registration for the Covid 19 vaccination was on for people from 55 on, I called my inseparable friend Beli, and, at the same time – both at our respective homes – we registered for vaccination at the same place, one more advantage …
The April afternoon was sunny and the temperature mild. She hadn’t been to Paris for some time, so she unpacked in a hurry and in no time she was leaving her hotel by the Arc de Triomphe. She was startled to see so many armed troops at the entrance but then she remembered the recent terrorist attacks and silently uttered a prayer – God, please let me enjoy this city I love so much, as I used to, just …
On April 25, 1974, the sun also rose. Little did Teresa know that day marked the absolute end of childhood. Thousands of miles away in Lisbon, the capital of a crumbling empire, the military had turned against the heads of state, and people had taken to the street en masse, handing out carnations to armed men who never fired a single shot. The ‘New State’ was no more. News of the revolution reached Mozambique the following day. Teresa’s …
This story is about a girl. Teresa. It begins in 1975, when she’s only twelve. She’s just left her homeland, Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, now riven by revolution and madness. In the wake of civil war, fear and terror crack open Teresa’s idyllic childhood. Even the family pets act distraught. Granny no longer tends to her roses. Everybody starts sleeping in the same room, afraid of knives in the night. They must flee the land they have …
There was a girl who lived in a land of perpetual summer. She could not imagine it would come to an end sooner than she thought. Teresa lived with her family in a huge house, surrounded by a luscious garden. She, her brother and playmates capered in the shade of massive trees and played games of make-believe where princes and princesses fought dragons and wizards and saved the day and fell in love. In that garden, where her …
This story is about a girl. Teresa. It begins in 1975, when she’s only twelve. She’s just left her homeland, Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, now riven by revolution and madness. In the wake of civil war, fear and terror crack open Teresa’s idyllic childhood. Even the family pets act distraught. Granny no longer tends to her roses. Everybody starts sleeping in the same room, afraid of knives in the night. They must flee the land they have …
On April 25, 1974, the sun also rose. Little did Teresa know that day marked the absolute end of childhood. Thousands of miles away in Lisbon, the capital of a crumbling empire, the military had turned against the heads of state, and people had taken to the street en masse, handing out carnations to armed men who never fired a single shot. The ‘New State’ was no more. News of the revolution reached Mozambique the following day. Teresa’s …
At times like these, when you stand in awe of the vast changes reworking your life, and you ask yourself whether you’ll ever get back so many of the things you took for granted, it’s inevitable to hark back to the good old days and wish for a time machine. It doesn’t matter how kind life has been to me, how much I love my sons, or how much fulfilment I’ve found in my career — nothing compares to …
There was a girl who lived in a land of perpetual summer. She could not imagine it would come to an end sooner than she thought. Teresa lived with her family in a huge house, surrounded by a luscious garden. She, her brother and playmates capered in the shade of massive trees and played games of make-believe where princes and princesses fought dragons and wizards and saved the day and fell in love. In that garden, where her …
