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BOOK
Under the Kapok Tree
Under the Kapok Tree tells the story of three generations in twentieth-century Brazil. It is narrated by Arthur, a Brazilian musician travelling through Europe and India. While on his journey, he meets old friends and makes new ones, their interactions and conversations giving Arthur and his partner, Jasmine the singer, plenty to think about.
Arthur’s great-grandmother, an extraordinary Ticuna Indian from the heart of the Amazon, witnesses her tribe being obliterated by greedy loggers. She escapes genocide only to be captured by a rubber-gatherer who she falls in love with. They form a family and set off on an adventure that lasts for three generations.
Their lives, like the great Amazon River, flow through the history of a changing nation rich in mysticism, political instability, and music. As the story of each generation unfolds, magical realism interspersed with travel fiction connects not-so-different worlds by a genealogical line.
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