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Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations on Fatherhood
Award-winning author paulo da costa meditates on fatherhood, place, and memory during a trip to his childhood home in Vale de Cambra, Portugal.
During an extended stay in his childhood home in Portugal, author paulo da costa distills the wide-eyed innocence, joy, and curiosity of his four-year-old son as he meets his aging grandparents and explores an unfamiliar country and culture into a beautiful, tender, and poetic portrait of father-son relationships.
Evocative and heartwarming, Trust the Bluer Skies is a literary time capsule―a father’s vivid account of his son’s early years, a sensory-rich journey through rural Portugal, and a poignant exploration of masculinities that is positive, compassionate, and nurturing.
During an extended stay in his childhood home in Portugal, author paulo da costa distills the wide-eyed innocence, joy, and curiosity of his four-year-old son as he meets his aging grandparents and explores an unfamiliar country and culture into a beautiful, tender, and poetic portrait of father-son relationships.
Evocative and heartwarming, Trust the Bluer Skies is a literary time capsule―a father’s vivid account of his son’s early years, a sensory-rich journey through rural Portugal, and a poignant exploration of masculinities that is positive, compassionate, and nurturing.
- GenresMemoirNonfiction
264 pages, Paperback
Published March 2, 2024
1 person is currently reading
1848 people want to read
About the author
Paulo da Costa
18 books24 followersBorn in Angola, and raised in Portugal, paulo da costa is a writer, editor and translator living in Canada. He is thrice the recipient of the James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction (2024, 2023 and 2020), the 2024 Outstanding Calgary Artist Award, as well as the 2003 Commonwealth First Book Prize for the Canada-Caribbean Region, the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Canongate Prize for short-fiction. His poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published widely in literary magazines around the world and translated into Italian, Spanish, Serbian, Slovenian and Portuguese.
Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations of Fatherhood, a book of creative non-fiction, was published in 2024 with University of Regina Press.
Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations of Fatherhood, a book of creative non-fiction, was published in 2024 with University of Regina Press.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 17, 2023
A sweet and interesting letter format written like a journal for the author's 4 year old son. They are temporarily in Portugal, coming from Canada, and the child is being exposed to his dad's family and hometown. I can hear echos of what I left behind in the small town to move, and sadly cannot recover the family and old ties. This will be a wonderful read for his son someday. I enjoyed it, but also felt at times like I was reading something that was not intended for my eyes. Felt a bit like I was snooping. Might just be me. Did make me think though, which is always a good thing. Would recommend.
December 6, 2023
Trust the Bluer Skies is part journal, part child's memory book, part poetry, and is an earnest log of intentional living. It is intimate, endearing, profound and in many places, absolutely arresting.
As one begins to read, it feels a little itchy, a little too personal. It is the record of a family who has traveled from their residence in Western Canada to the homeplace in one of their family tree roots (Matos is the family name in this line) - in Portugal. It is clear that this is, if not an annual event, regular enough to sustain relationships with family and community members throughout the decades of the author's life. On this particular trip paulo brings his wife, his 4-year old son Koah, and their newest edition, Amari, a baby sister.
The writing is delicious and wide-ranging, and is always, always written to the son who is most often in his company. paulo is showing Koah around where they meet family - grandfather (who is not long for the world - a mighty contrast to the bursting offspring paulo brings to visit) and grandmother, uncles, cousins, neighbors. They work on language acquisition, songs, poems, stories, and recipes are carefully shared and documented. There are activities alone together - paulo and Koah, and those with other group mixes, mother and sister, grandparents and others. They stroll and explore the cemetery to discuss life and death, travel to celebrate tasty treats (but the best are the homemade ones), beautiful views and walkways. Experiences while carnival-ing, shopping, harvesting, cooking are shared.
For a book about one trip over a season, the intentional documenting, with its lyrical movement enthralled me. I imagined Koah picking this up at 10 yrs old, or 17, or 27, or 67. . .what an absolute gift to him this will be, right down to what he was eating and drinking, and how he got chicken pox (as did Amari), but recovered. . all captured in these pages. A gift.
The author gently presents the problems of long extended family visits - they show the contrasts in family life. How one family becomes very different over time and the various members as they start and stretch their own families and lives outside the original (and who is to say which is the original?!) "footprint," developing and adopting parenting methods far afield from that first model. Even worship and faith traditions change, some chose other nations, cultures and languages. All of these are shown in this tender book - yet tolerating the differences and suffering them to exist happens precisely so they can be together again for this too short while.
It was the end that wrenched my heart with the truths paulo shares with his four-year old - who will not understand fully for many years - that each visit is a new one, building new experiences with the loved ones who've remained, missing the ones who have not. The visit next time will not be the same - because we (the visitors) are not the same. That's the truth for all of us (Koah, visitors and readers), and the beauty of this book. Here is one father spreading with words his love, honor and respect for this little boy he knows will outgrow him faster than he will be able to bear, as he did in his turn to those who had nurtured him. But he leaves for his children, and all of us, his passion and reverence for daily living, and the value of gathering - arriving - sharing time together - and departing: to do it all over again, and again. What we can take from these efforts are so well illustrated in Trust the Bluer Skies, I'm grateful to have read it.
All the stars. Every one.
*A sincere thank you to paulo da costa, University of Regina Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #TrusttheBluerSkies #NetGalley Pub Date: 02 Mar 2024
As one begins to read, it feels a little itchy, a little too personal. It is the record of a family who has traveled from their residence in Western Canada to the homeplace in one of their family tree roots (Matos is the family name in this line) - in Portugal. It is clear that this is, if not an annual event, regular enough to sustain relationships with family and community members throughout the decades of the author's life. On this particular trip paulo brings his wife, his 4-year old son Koah, and their newest edition, Amari, a baby sister.
The writing is delicious and wide-ranging, and is always, always written to the son who is most often in his company. paulo is showing Koah around where they meet family - grandfather (who is not long for the world - a mighty contrast to the bursting offspring paulo brings to visit) and grandmother, uncles, cousins, neighbors. They work on language acquisition, songs, poems, stories, and recipes are carefully shared and documented. There are activities alone together - paulo and Koah, and those with other group mixes, mother and sister, grandparents and others. They stroll and explore the cemetery to discuss life and death, travel to celebrate tasty treats (but the best are the homemade ones), beautiful views and walkways. Experiences while carnival-ing, shopping, harvesting, cooking are shared.
For a book about one trip over a season, the intentional documenting, with its lyrical movement enthralled me. I imagined Koah picking this up at 10 yrs old, or 17, or 27, or 67. . .what an absolute gift to him this will be, right down to what he was eating and drinking, and how he got chicken pox (as did Amari), but recovered. . all captured in these pages. A gift.
The author gently presents the problems of long extended family visits - they show the contrasts in family life. How one family becomes very different over time and the various members as they start and stretch their own families and lives outside the original (and who is to say which is the original?!) "footprint," developing and adopting parenting methods far afield from that first model. Even worship and faith traditions change, some chose other nations, cultures and languages. All of these are shown in this tender book - yet tolerating the differences and suffering them to exist happens precisely so they can be together again for this too short while.
It was the end that wrenched my heart with the truths paulo shares with his four-year old - who will not understand fully for many years - that each visit is a new one, building new experiences with the loved ones who've remained, missing the ones who have not. The visit next time will not be the same - because we (the visitors) are not the same. That's the truth for all of us (Koah, visitors and readers), and the beauty of this book. Here is one father spreading with words his love, honor and respect for this little boy he knows will outgrow him faster than he will be able to bear, as he did in his turn to those who had nurtured him. But he leaves for his children, and all of us, his passion and reverence for daily living, and the value of gathering - arriving - sharing time together - and departing: to do it all over again, and again. What we can take from these efforts are so well illustrated in Trust the Bluer Skies, I'm grateful to have read it.
All the stars. Every one.
*A sincere thank you to paulo da costa, University of Regina Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #TrusttheBluerSkies #NetGalley Pub Date: 02 Mar 2024
March 14, 2024
This book, acquired through a Goodreads giveaway, unfolds as a poignant epistolary exchange between a father and his young son, akin to perusing the pages of a cherished personal diary. Through this intimate narrative lens, readers are transported to the picturesque setting of Portugal, where the author's familial roots intertwine with the present moment. The author's reflections on their Canadian upbringing juxtaposed with the experiences of their son in Portugal evoke a sense of nostalgia and longing for lost connections and familial ties. The bittersweet resonance of departing from one's past while embracing new beginnings resonates deeply with readers who have undergone similar transitions. Ultimately, this heartfelt narrative serves not only as a tender communication between father and son but also as a timeless keepsake that will undoubtedly be cherished by the young recipient in the years to come.
January 5, 2025
Excellent reflections on a father son relationship where Koah (4 yr old) navigates a five month trip back Paolo (fathers) home town in Portugal. The juxtaposition of bright and naive child energy that he brings to a village that has faded from its bustling farm days softens the reality of death, desertion and disappointment.
It made me feel the need for preservation of innocence with my own child(ren). It also reminds me of my time with extended family growing up, the joy we got out of visits and the happiness it brought to others. A lot of emotions reading this, but I’m sure I’ll be back to read it again.
It made me feel the need for preservation of innocence with my own child(ren). It also reminds me of my time with extended family growing up, the joy we got out of visits and the happiness it brought to others. A lot of emotions reading this, but I’m sure I’ll be back to read it again.
June 1, 2024
3.5 STARS
I received a copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaways program in exchange for an honest review.
This was a beautifully written collection of essays/musings/reflections detailing a family's 5 month stay in the father's hometown of rural Portugal. As a fairly new parent myself, I really appreciated the insights, worries and lessons the author/father expressed and his dedication to nurturing gentleness, emotional intelligence and non-competitiveness within his young son.
I received a copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaways program in exchange for an honest review.
This was a beautifully written collection of essays/musings/reflections detailing a family's 5 month stay in the father's hometown of rural Portugal. As a fairly new parent myself, I really appreciated the insights, worries and lessons the author/father expressed and his dedication to nurturing gentleness, emotional intelligence and non-competitiveness within his young son.
February 5, 2024
An evocative journey, exploring the theme of innocence.
How did the book make me feel/think?
In “Trust the Bluer Skies,” Paulo da Costa invites readers on an evocative journey, exploring the theme of innocence.
The narrative unfolds as a father embarks on a trip with his four-year-old son to his ancestral home in Portugal. Through Koah, the young boy, we witness the purity of a child’s perspective—a lens that highlights the poetic nature of their bond.
As the story progresses, the reader is drawn into the poignant struggle of a father striving to preserve his son’s innate wit and sense of wonder.
This quest takes place against a backdrop of a transforming world, where exploitation is rampant and once-natural landscapes are lost to ‘progress.’ The inexorable march of change threatens to erase the simplicities of life, leaving a world where innocence cannot endure untouched.
Koah’s character represents a poignant reminder—a call to rediscover the often-overlooked splendour in our surroundings we so readily sacrifice. His innocence challenges us to consider a slower pace of life, to reawaken to the beauty we are on the brink of destroying.
WRITTEN: 4 February 2024
How did the book make me feel/think?
In “Trust the Bluer Skies,” Paulo da Costa invites readers on an evocative journey, exploring the theme of innocence.
The narrative unfolds as a father embarks on a trip with his four-year-old son to his ancestral home in Portugal. Through Koah, the young boy, we witness the purity of a child’s perspective—a lens that highlights the poetic nature of their bond.
As the story progresses, the reader is drawn into the poignant struggle of a father striving to preserve his son’s innate wit and sense of wonder.
This quest takes place against a backdrop of a transforming world, where exploitation is rampant and once-natural landscapes are lost to ‘progress.’ The inexorable march of change threatens to erase the simplicities of life, leaving a world where innocence cannot endure untouched.
Koah’s character represents a poignant reminder—a call to rediscover the often-overlooked splendour in our surroundings we so readily sacrifice. His innocence challenges us to consider a slower pace of life, to reawaken to the beauty we are on the brink of destroying.
WRITTEN: 4 February 2024
March 18, 2024
I loved this book!
June 16, 2024
Didn't provide instant dopamine at the beginning. As I got into, I relished the romanticized, slow, deliberate focus on family relationships and human connection.
September 22, 2024
Trust the Bluer Skies by Paulo da Costa is a warm, touching reflection on the beauty of fatherhood and the memories that shape us. Through his trip back to his childhood home in Portugal, da Costa shares the joy and curiosity of seeing the world through his young son’s eyes. It’s filled with sweet moments, like exploring the countryside, reconnecting with family, and passing down stories and traditions.
This book feels like a love letter to family—a deeply personal yet relatable journey of appreciating the little things. It’s the kind of book that makes you think about your own family connections and the moments that really matter. If you enjoy heartfelt stories about life, love, and the bond between parents and children, this one’s for you. It’s a beautiful reminder to slow down and savor the time we have with those we love.
This book feels like a love letter to family—a deeply personal yet relatable journey of appreciating the little things. It’s the kind of book that makes you think about your own family connections and the moments that really matter. If you enjoy heartfelt stories about life, love, and the bond between parents and children, this one’s for you. It’s a beautiful reminder to slow down and savor the time we have with those we love.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews