There is something mysterious and intriguing about books that were burned under dictatorships, don’t you think? 

Personally, knowing that a book was prohibited by certain authorities inspires me even more to discover it. Captains of the Sands is a novel written by the Brazilian author Jorge Amado in 1937. Amado was only 25 years old when he first published the story of the abandoned children on the streets of Salvador, the former Brazilian capital. In the same year, more than 800 copies of the book were burned in the square of Salvador by the Brazilian authorities during what was one of the most totalitarian regimes in Brazil, under the pretext that the story was “dangerous for society”. And indeed, Amado (his last name literally means “loved one” in Portuguese!) wrote a story involving crimes committed by young abandoned children, such as theft, rape and violence. What annoyed the authorities though was the cruel truth contained in Amado’s novel about the unequal, ravaged Brazilian society.

From the very first lines, the reader will witness poverty, racism, misogyny and all sorts of discrimination. At this point, Captains of the Sands is not fiction, but represents the true image of Brazil in the early 20th century. Jorge Amado described reality as he best knew, the life in Bahia where he was born and raised. 

The novel starts with the presentation of letters written by different classes of people, starting from the lowest class of illiterate workers who defend the orphans to the highest class of priests and executives. The reader can easily notice that what is truly dividing these people is their language, as every class has a different way of expressing themselves. 

This is only the beginning that shows the deeply rooted class system in Brazilian society.

One of the most popular polemics in classic literature (Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky; Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, to name but a few) is whether crime can be justified. Can crime stop being crime if it is the only way to beat an unjust system?

Amado’s Captains of the Sands, a group of young orphans have nothing but themselves. Their group is their only family and, as they say, “revolution is fatherland and family”. Unlike what some critics tend to point out, Amado’s aim was to question the whole system and to find the roots of crime in the poorly organized society.

What surely captivates the readers in Captains of the Sands is Amado’s rich, almost poetic language. His descriptions will make you feel Bahia’s sweet, warm summer and its rainy, dark nights. The cultural references in the book won’t disappoint you: capoeira, candomblé, feijoada, samba, blend of African and European cultures, Portuguese architecture and stone streets will immediately transport you to the tropical homeland of the Captains of the Sands. 

Finally, Amado’s last words are nothing but an irony, reconsidering our whole idea of freedom. The Captains of the Sands are truly free for “the one who possesses nothing has nothing to lose”. The final scene presents the song of Bahia, also known as the song of freedom, leaving the empty streets of Salvador as they were – the only symbol of freedom and life.