Synopses & Reviews
Max Schmidt grew up in the stockroom of his father's fur store, cloaked among the foxes, minks, and leopards, hiding from the glaring eyes of a stuffed tiger atop the wardrobe. It is here he dreams of traveling to distant lands; and here, as a young man, he begins an affair with the store's married clerk.
Forced to flee when his lover's husband discovers the affair and denounces Max to the Nazi secret police, Max steals away to Hamburg, where he takes passage on a freighter destined for disaster. When the ship founders somewhere off the coast of South America, Max is trapped in a dinghy with a hungry jaguar. Max believes his days are numbered-until he washes ashore on the coast of tiny Porto Alegre, Brazil, prepared to begin anew in the tropical clime.
But when Max discovers his next-door neighbor is a Nazi hiding from persecution, he finds that for the first time in his life, he is the master of his own destiny, ready to take matters into his own hands...
Synopsis
Shipwrecked off the coast of South America with a hungry jaguar, Max Schmidt begins life anew in Brazil. When Max discovers his next-door neighbor is a Nazi hiding from persecution, he finds that for the first time in his life, he is the master of his own destiny, ready to take matters into his own hands.
About the Author
Moacyr Scliar was born in 1937 in the town of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The author of sixty-two books (translated into a dozen languages) and the recipient of numerous Brazilian literary awards, Scliar is recognized as one of the country's most outstanding writers of fiction. He is the author of The Centaur in the Garden, The Carnival of Animals, The One-Man Army, and The Gods of Raquel, among others.