Brazil Red - Tapa dura

Orphaned children Just and Colombe are brought against their will into Brazil by French colonizers to learn the native language and become interpreters, in an adventure that pits them against such challenges as cannibals, the expedition's eccentric leader, and the days preceding the Wars of Religion

"BRAZIL RED tells the story of two orphaned children, Just and Colombe, who are dragged off on the French colonizing expedition--they are meant to learn the native languages and act as interpreters. Everything in this novel is outsized: the setting, a jungle still populated by cannibals; the characters, including Villegagnon, the expedition's eccentric leader, who might be a model for Cyrano or d'Artagnan; and the events, a dress rehearsal for the Wars of Religion ten years in the future. Packed with portraits, landscapes, and action, "Brazil Red is a novel about coming of age and discovering love. On a deeper level, the story follows the destinies and decisions of Just and Colombe, presenting two conflicting views of man and nature. On one hand, a conquering European civilization, offering liberation but delivering death. On the other, the Indian world, with its sensuality, its harmony, its sense of the sacred, its continual call to happiness.