The Air You Breathe

A Novel

By: Frances de Pontes Peebles

Narrated by: Rebecca Mozo

"[A] glorious, glittery saga of friendship and loss... I read The Air You Breathe in two nights. (One might say I inhaled it.)." --NPR

"Echoes of Elena Ferrante resound in this sumptuous saga."--O, The Oprah Magazine

"Enveloping...Peebles understands the shifting currents of female friendship, and she writes so vividly about samba that you close the book certain its heroine's voices must exist beyond the page." -People

The story of an intense female friendship fueled by affection, envy and pride--and each woman's fear that she would be nothing without the other.

Some friendships, like romance, have the feeling of fate.

Skinny, nine-year-old orphaned Dores is working in the kitchen of a sugar plantation in 1930s Brazil when in walks a girl who changes everything. Graça, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy sugar baron, is clever, well fed, pretty, and thrillingly ill behaved. Born to wildly different worlds, Dores and Graça quickly bond over shared mischief, and then, on a deeper level, over music.

One has a voice like a songbird; the other feels melodies in her soul and composes lyrics to match. Music will become their shared passion, the source of their partnership and their rivalry, and for each, the only way out of the life to which each was born. But only one of the two is destined to be a star. Their intimate, volatile bond will determine each of their fortunes--and haunt their memories.

Traveling from Brazil's inland sugar plantations to the rowdy streets of Rio de Janeiro's famous Lapa neighborhood, from Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood back to the irresistible drumbeat of home, The Air You Breathe unfurls a moving portrait of a lifelong friendship--its unparalleled rewards and lasting losses--and considers what we owe to the relationships that shape our lives.

Read like a memoir

Gripping saga of the enduring, mostly painful and definitely hard to watch friendship between two women. Beginning in Brazil in the 30’s, one woman is a rich sugar baron’s daughter, and the other is a servant. Their lives are fraught with struggles. Struggles to be loved. To belong. To be seen. And heard. And wanted. They love one another, are jealous of one another and cannot live without the other.
We follow their lives as one becomes a famous samba singer and the other is behind the scenes. The stories of samba and the people who made it what it became are so realistic that several times I stopped to Google the characters to see if they were real.
Heartbreaking, gut wrenching and filled with grit. Definitely worth a read.

moving and heartfelt

beautifully written. you can hear the music as you listen to the writers
words.

outstanding tale of love and friendship

this book is beautiful, lyrical, hunting, and compelling. one of the real treats was having the lyrics at the beginning of each section and then allowing the story to unfold from those lyrics.

A happy surprise

I was casting about for historical fiction from South America, and this title popped up. The plot moves around in time from the 1920'2-1940's, eventually landing later in the century in Brazil and the US. There is much to learn of music and history, which are two of my passions. The story is presented by its narrator, and the reader's performance is excellent.
This is a book that grabbed me from its beginning. (If you are queasy about non-binary people, then this isn't for you. It's not offensive or salacious, but it is part of the plot.) The two main characters are from opposite ends of the economic spectrum who leave their city of origin to make music together. There are adventures to be had and psychologies to explore. The supporting characters are equally as intriguing.
There are many books I listen to that turn out just to be background entertainment, but this one sucked me in, and I found myself making more time for it and staying up way too late to finish it. The author has written only one other book; I wish she'd write some more.

Beautiful

This book was an absolute delight to listen to. Rebecca Mozo did a wonderful job at bringing The Air You Breathe to life.