Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2016. On the eve of Angolan independence, Ludo bricks herself into her apartment, where she will remain for the next thirty years. She lives off vegetables and pigeons, burns her furniture and books to stay alive and keeps herself busy by writing her story on the walls of her home. Until one day she meets Sabalu, a young boy from the street who climbs up to her terrace.