Synopses & Reviews
Márcia is a nurse in a hospital near Rio and lives in a favela with her boyfriend, Aluisio, and her daughter, Jaqueline, whom she had very young with another man. Jaqueline, a troubled young adult, makes life difficult for her mother and Aluisio and rebelliously hangs out with members of a neighborhood gang, leading to violent altercations between mother and daughter. The situation degenerates even more when Jaqueline is arrested. Márcia and Aluisio, distraught, realize that Jaqueline is in deeper trouble than they ever thought.
Listen, Beautiful Márcia is a fast-paced, flamboyantly colorful new graphic novel by one of the most important Brazilian graphic novelists working today. Marcello Quintanilha's first English-language graphic novel is a tour de force — a tightly wound drama filled with masterful suspense and a deep love for family and character.
Review
“A very beautiful portrait of a mother's courage.” Rolling Stone
Review
“We laugh, we cry when reading this amazing graphic object, illuminated with carnivalesque colors that accentuate the gap between comedy and tragedy.” Le Monde
Review
“Cinematic and saturated with color, Quintanilha's English-language debut, a character study of a mother trying to keep her family safe in a Brazilian favela, vibrates with emotion….It's a gorgeous tumult.” Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Marcello Quintanilha was born in 1971 outside Rio de Janeiro. His first graphic novel, Tungsteno, published in 2015, was adapted for film by director Heitor Dhalia. He has lived in Barcelona since 2002.
Andrea Rosenberg is a translator who has worked on a variety of novels and graphic narratives in Spanish and Portuguese. Her translations of the graphic novels Run For It by Marcelo D'Salete and The House by Paco Roca won Eisner Awards in 2018 and 2020, respectively.