Walking on Dry Land

November 21, 2011
Ana has spent her entire life tormented about her parentage; while living in colonized Angola, her father, Jose, a Portuguese writer, had an affair with an Angolan woman. Despite this infidelity, Jose's wife, Helena, raised Ana along with their son Tiago. Upon Helena's death, Ana travels to Angola, where Tiago lives, to try to find her birth mother, of whom all she knows is a nameâSolangeâand the fact that she was once a singer. Ana finds Solange and as they become acquainted, Ana confronts her about her abandonment of Ana during the Angolan revolution. Solange counters that, without her consent, Jose and Helena had spirited Ana back to Portugal. Ana's search is intercut with stories of Jose, Helena, and Solange in their youth, against the backdrop of Angolan political unrest. These cuts add depth to character profiles and setting, a subtlety that readers will appreciate amid the familiar background of a displaced child seeking her parents. A skilled storyteller, Kehoe intimately illustrates a land and a woman in turmoil.