A Girl Is Lost in Her Century, Looking for Her Father - Paperback

by Gonçalo M. Tavares (Author), Daniel Hahn (Translator)

Winner of the 2026 Formentor Prize for Literature

Amid a landscape of rubble, skeletal figures, and helplessness in Europe post-World War II, a girl and a man wander among the ruins.

Hanna, a 12-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome, is looking for her father. Marius, her companion, seems to be hiding from something. Aided by a simple instruction card, Hanna explores what it is to be human, as Tavares creates an abstract yet touching portrait of the true victims of war.

Author Biography

Gonçalo M. Tavares was born in Luanda in 1970 and teaches Theory of Science in Lisbon. His work has already received an impressive amount of literary awards, among them the Prix Littéraire Européen, the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger 2010, which has so far been given to authors like Salman Rushdie, John Updike, and Philip Roth. Other awards inculde the Saramago Prize, the Prêmio Portugal Telecom de Literatura em Língua Portuguesa, the SPA Author's Prize, the Prêmio Melhor Narrativa Ficcional da Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores and the Prémio Literário Fundação Inês de Castro.