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Saudade by Suneeta Peres da Costa

Suneeta Peres da Costa was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is of Goan heritage. Her work references Goan and subcontinental culture, history, families, diaspora and postcolonialism. She has also written on asylum seeker justice in Australia and women and endometriosis. 1889207 Saudade is a beautifully conceived story told from the perspective of a young Goan migrant, who lives with her family in Angola during the last years of Portuguese occupation. The title speaks to the melancholy longing for homeland that haunts the characters.

Looking back on her childhood in the 1960s, the narrator captures the difficult relationship between her and her mother, and the ways in which their intimate world is shaken by domestic violence, the legacies of slavery, and the end of empire. Beyond these personal relationships, the story develops a nuanced understanding of the workings of race and class within a complex colonial society.

The author’s intellectual awakening gradually unfolds into a growing awareness of the lies of colonialism, and the violent political ruptures that ultimately lead to her father’s death, and their exile. The author is very observant with an eye for vivid and telling details evokes the African setting in all its colour and richness. The story is told with an elegance and concision that exemplify the virtues of the novella form. 1889206