Author(s): Paulo Scott

Novel | Translated fiction | Brazil

•Timely and pointed investigation into the emotional and societal costs of racism. The issue of race is even more complex in Brazil than in the Anglo world, yet the lessons and observations put forward in Phenotypes are not only applicable to our own quotidian experiences but shine a refreshing light on the vexed question of identity in our era. • Brit Bennett meets John Keene • But, also, gorgeous. By no means is this a textbook, however, or even a rant. It’s a novel, gloriously written and filled with pungent character portraits not soon forgotten.

Paulo Scott delivers a smart and stylish account of the bigotry lurking in hearts and institutions alike. Translated by Daniel Hahn.

In this complex tale, two very different brothers of mixed black and white heritage are divided by the colour of their skin, as racial tension rises in society and a guilty secret resurfaces from their shared past.

Paulo Scott here probes the old wounds of race in Brazil, and in particular the loss of a black identity independent from the history of slavery. Exploratory rather than didactic, a story of crime, street-life and regret as much as a satirical novel of ideas, Phenotypes is a seething masterpiece of rage and reconciliation.