Saudade: Thirty Poems of Longing

by Elizabeth Varadan

44 pages, Paperback

Published February 14, 2020

About the author

My husband and I lived in Midtown Sacramento for many years, a beautiful area with bookstores, art stores, cafes, tree-lined streets, and old Victorians and bungalows. In February, 2021 we moved to Braga, Portugal, where two of my cozy mysteries are set.

I love to read all kinds of books: cozy mysteries, historical fiction, middlegrade and YA, poetry . . .

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no English equivalent for the Portuguese word “saudade”, which describes a melancholy longing for something that never can be, like a thwarted dream; or never be again, like a cherished memory. But Elizabeth Varadan’s lovely first book of poetry, Saudade: Thirty Poems of Longing, makes translation unnecessary: here readers experience saudade in many forms—loss, regret, and bittersweet nostalgia, followed by fragile hopes for the future. Though the poems are personal, the journey is one we all recognize as our own.