Os Tambores de São Luis

An off-topic thread on the rec.puzzles newsgroup got steered back on topic with an ObPuzzle: "Are there other books where the complete story takes place in less than 24 hours?"

After returning from Brazil, and back in college, I read Josue Montello's novel, Os Tambores de São Luis ("The Drums of St. Louis"). Though the narrative arc covers several hundred years of history, the actual time elapsed is from one night to early the next morning, circa 1915.

This is one book I've always wished I owned (I checked it out of the library as a student). I wish there was an English translation—I'd recommend it to all my friends if there were.

I found the book again tonight on a Brazilian Amazon-like website. The ISBN is 8520902871. I used isbn.nu to see if it happened to be available via any US booksellers, but it wasn't.

The price is R$67,00. At current exchange rates that'd be just under US$25.00, which is a reasonable price for a book of this length. Guess I better look into what Submarino's shipping rates are...

—Michael A. Cleverly
Thursday, January 20, 2005 at 00:38