"Amado was writing to save his country's soul. . . . The scenes where the captains of the sands manage to fool the rich of the city and get away with it would have made Henry Fielding or Charles Dickens proud." –
Colm Tóibín, from the Introduction "Indispensable . . . if you want to feel the intensity of life on the streets of Salvador." –
Itamar Vieira Junior, The New York Times "Amado is Brazil's most illustrious and venerable novelist."–
The New York Times "Brazil's leading man of letters . . . Amado is adored around the world!" –
Newsweek