Backlands, Victoria Shorr
Backlands, Victoria Shorr
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Backlands

Author: Victoria Shorr

Narrator: Carla Mercer-Meyer

Unabridged: 8 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/11/2015


Synopsis

Set in the sparse frontier settlements of northeastern Brazil, Backlands tells the true story of a group of nomadic outlaws who reigned over the area from about 1922 until 1938. Taking from the rich and feared by the poor, they were led by the famously charismatic bandit Lampiao.

A one-eyed goat rancher who first set out to avenge his father's murder in a lawless land, Lampiao proved to be too good a leader, fighter, and strategist to ever return home again. By 1925 he commanded the biggest gang of outlaws in Brazil. Known to this day as a "prince," Lampiao had everything: brains, money, power, charisma, and luck. Everything but love, until he met Maria Bonita.

"You teach me to make lace, and I'll teach you to make love"—this was the song the bandits marched to, and it was Maria Bonita who made it come true. She was stuck in a loveless marriage when she met Lampiao, but she rode off with him, becoming "Queen of the Bandits." Together the couple—still celebrated folk heroes—would become the country's most wanted figures, protecting their extraordinary freedom through cunning.

About Victoria Shorr

Victoria Shorr is a writer and political activist. She is the author of three works of fiction, including the acclaimed historical novel The Plum Trees. She lives in New York and Santa Barbara, California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Enchanted Prose on June 09, 2015

Romantic folk-telling – A folk hero couple in Brazil’s outback (Northeast Brazil, 1922 -1938): If Victoria Shorr hadn’t lived in Brazil for ten years, I doubt she’d have written, or we’d be treated to, this unusual historical novel about nomadic banditry “full of beauty and danger,” at a time and pl......more

Goodreads review by Dawn on July 31, 2020

A one-eyed goat rancher who first set out to avenge his father's murder in a lawless land, Lampiao proved to be too good a leader, fighter, and strategist to ever return home again. By 1925, he commanded the biggest gang of outlaws in Brazil. Known to this day as a "prince", Lampiao had everything:......more

Goodreads review by Russell on April 21, 2015

Victoria Shorr did a great job of bringing this story to life. While the tale of this Brazilian outlaw started off a bit slow, it quickly picked up the pace and turned into an exciting adventure. The story of the gang and the lady that follows them is a deep and fun romp through the timeframe. I got......more

Goodreads review by Carla on April 08, 2015

Great book. I feel like I visited Brazil in the 1900's. What a strange and beautiful country and language. So unique, and Victoria Shorr does a wonderful job describing it.......more

Goodreads review by Nathan on January 19, 2020

This book seems custom-made to make into a movie.  I do not consider that a bad thing, even if this story is not precisely the sort of story I am most fond of.  There is an air of the Greek tragedy about this book, as it takes a real-life outlaw hero in Brazilian history who fought with police and r......more