The Loneliest Tree in the World

This whimsical novel by a beloved Brazilian writer follows a family of tobacco farmers through the eyes of various objects in their home—an old mirror, a pickup truck, a protective work smock, and a sick, loving tree

On a small tobacco farm in the south of Brazil, a family of five tends their crop and tries to keep up with the economic tribulations and environmental threats of modern rural life. The father, Carlos, is reckoning with a depression that has hollowed his soul, likely caused by exposure to pesticides. His wife, Guerlinda, must cope with her husband’s mental absence from family life while raising three children and keeping the household afloat. Alice, the eldest daughter, rebels against her mother and traditional gender standards. Her younger sister Maria is the only one who still attends school, struggling to reconcile her book smarts with the harsh manual labor demanded by the farm. And little two-year-old Pedrinho still hasn’t started talking, but is already being put to work tending the tobacco. All the while, the objects surrounding them are watching and telling us their story. There’s the old, sick tree in their backyard; the mirror inside, which reflects the unsaid emotions and hidden traumas; the truck that transports them; and the protective smock that accompanies the family during the harvest.

As the harvesting and burning season approaches, big tobacco companies, unpredictable conditions, and consequences of pesticide treatments threaten the family’s livelihood and mental well-being. In this utterly groundbreaking novel, Mariana Salomão Carrara experiments with language and form to portray a family in crisis.