{"product_id":"tiodoras-letters-an-enslaved-womans-fight-for-family-and-freedom","title":"Tiodora's Letters: An Enslaved Woman's Fight for Family and Freedom","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy Marcelo D'Salete. Published by Fantagraphics. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHardcover, 204 pages, B\u0026amp;W, 2026. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInspired by the powerful true story of Tiodora da Cunha Dias, Eisner Award-winner D’Salete reconstructs a forgotten part of Brazil’s dark history of slavery.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the mid-19th century, millions of Africans were enslaved and brought to Brazil. Among them was the real-life Teodora who, separated from her husband and her son, worked in the home of a priest in São Paulo. Wishing to reconstruct the family ties lost during the journey from Africa to Brazil and to achieve emancipation for herself and her family, she gave Claro, a Black man who could read and write, money to help her write letters: some addressed to her husband and her son, whereabouts unknown, in the hopes that the letters would find them and that they could achieve this quest together; and some addressed to enslavers, intended to either help locate her family or to persuade them to let her buy her freedom.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by this correspondence, Tiodora’s Letters is a rigorously researched historical work, a compelling narrative based on her letters, and masterfully drawn by D’Salete, who graphically recreates her struggle. In the 1870s, Benê, a fictional Black young man who likes Tiodora because she was kind to him, takes it upon himself to seek Tiô’s family and deliver the letters. He embarks on a dangerous and world-building journey into the interior of Brazil and to the coffee plantations where they might be. There are many wordless passages of heartbreaking horror, character beats, breathtaking drawings of nature, and much more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTiodora’s Letters\u003c\/em\u003e, D’Salete reconstructs a forgotten part of Brazil's dark history of slavery and pays tribute to the strength of a woman who fought for her rights single-handedly. Includes educational and contextual material.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Topped off with fascinating and informative essays, samples of Tiodora's actual letters, and many wordless panels filled with action sequences, this truly unique work of graphic nonfiction reveals to English-speaking readers the experiences of Afro-Brazilian enslaved people and belongs in every academic library.\" — Booklist\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"D'Salete employs a sharp, almost woodcut-like black and white to recreate the atmosphere of a dusty and spectral São Paulo. Visual silence is a deliberate choice: many pages lack text, allowing the expressions of faces and the tension of bodies to narrate the anguish of separation and the grind of labor on coffee plantations.\" — RetroFuturista\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fantagraphics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61558275014986,"sku":"tiodorasletters","price":25.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8894\/4822\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_c3e9eacb-0f25-4eec-8c1e-ceb725bf957c.jpg?v=1775833185","url":"https:\/\/littledeercomics.ie\/products\/tiodoras-letters-an-enslaved-womans-fight-for-family-and-freedom","provider":"Little Deer Comics","version":"1.0","type":"link"}