Saisons des feux

by Naná Howton, Isadora Matz (Translator)

Chaque année, au Brésil, les champs de canne à sucre sont brûlés pour faciliter les récoltes. Sur les cendres de leur enfance, Smiley et sa soeur Porcelaine tentent de se construire. Elles quittent les murs protecteurs de l'orphelinat pour retrouver une mère, qui les néglige. En colère, en quête de vérité sur son histoire et affamée, Smiley entraîne sa cadette dans un voyage en stop à la recherche de leur père. Leur naïveté les conduira dans des situations risquées. La sororité apparaît alors comme l'unique rempart face à l'adversité. Saisons des feux suit Smiley jusqu'à l'ultime croisée des chemins qui déterminera son avenir.. Ce premier roman à l'écriture cinématographique se présente comme un voyage initiatique dans le Brésil des années 1970. C'est aussi, en filigrane, une chronique sociale implacable de la violence qui traverse ce pays, alors sous dictature militaire, et qui ne laisse comme échappatoire à la misère et à la honte que la fuite.

377 pages, Paperback

Published January 12, 2023

Reviews

[Annisa Salsabilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

At its core, this book feels like a reflection on how children often become the silent victims of their parents’ wounds, carrying consequences they never chose.

What struck me most is how the story portrays generational pain—how love, neglect, fear, and survival coexist in the same household. The children in this novel are not just background characters; they are shaped, bruised, and molded by adult decisions, often forced to grow up too soon. It’s painful to read, but also deeply honest.

At the same time, this is very much a story about women’s resilience. About how women, despite being fractured by circumstances, still search for themselves—trying to stay whole when everything around them is falling apart. There’s a quiet strength in the way the female characters endure, adapt, and keep going, even when they are exhausted, even when they are breaking. It’s not loud empowerment; it’s survival, and that makes it feel real.

[Cyrille Honoré · Rating 4 out of 5]

On suit le parcours difficile - voir carrément la survie - d'une jeune fille et de sa petite sœur pendant la dictature militaire du Brésil. Récit émouvant et dur mais narré avec une juste et sobre écriture. Un grand roman - d'une étonnante maîtrise pour une écrivaine dont ça n'est que le premier.

[Matt Thackeray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poverty is crushing. It eats away at your energy and your soul. It takes your health and your life. Burning Seasons by Nana Howton captures how pervasive the rot of poverty through its impact on two teenage sisters, Smiley and her younger sister Trinket in 1970s Brazil.

Pervasive it is. Every page renders how the girls childhood, one of eternal diaplacement between a mother who isn't financially or emotionally able to take care of them and a Catholic orphanage, colours their world view, and forces Smiley to age prematurely while Trinket regresses into immaturity. There's a constant sense of life on the edge of a economic precipice which threatens to swallow what remains of the girls and everyone around them.

Although being set in 1970s military run Brazil, it feels modern. Smiley joins a communist group who discuss overthrowing the regime, but even this group's rhetoric wouldn't be out of place in dictatorships today. The girls' mother is using sex work to eke out a living, something which Smiley struggles to reconcile against more puritanical concepts of being a 'nice not ruined girl'. Even when the police and military are present, their presence is more one of the power-holding haves Vs the powerless have-nots than a staunch critique of the politics of the time.

This genre can easily descend into poverty and misery porn if not tempered by glimmers of hope. These glimmers come in the humanity that Smiley comes into contact with, mainly with others who are also existing on the margins. Doris, a transgender sex worker, offers her kindness and shelter when Smiley's at her most vulnerable. Trinket receives unexpected kindess, so much so that Smiley doesn't believe it's happened.

It's all to easy for poverty to subsume everything we are. This novel does a great job of balancing the glimmers of hope with the harsh realities of the girls' situation to create a real work of art.

[Louise Pelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Burning Seasons Nana Howton has done a wonderful job, drawing us into Smiley's life, making us care for her through all her adversities. Despite the many dangerous and dismal events that Smiley encounters, the feeling we come away with is hope. Smiley will survive , and more than that, she will thrive.

[Juliana]

An incredibly harrowing story drawing from the author's life experience living in 1970s Brazil under the dictatorship. As she becomes more aware of what is happening around her, including family dynamics, what is happening in the country, and people's perception of others. With a bittersweet ending, the novel leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

[Lara Apollonov · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was fine. I was interested in it as its a setting I have no familiarity with, 70s Brazil, but I found the writing was uninspiring and the plot to be so/so.

[Eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Grayce · Rating 3 out of 5]

NO ONE is thriving this made me sick to my stomach multiple times

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books of the year!!