THE SUN ON MY

The Sun On My Head is a collection of thirteen short stories set in Rio's largestfavela, Rocinha. The collection gravitates around the childhoods and teenageyears of boys who, in spite of having to deal with the anguish and difficultiesinherent to their age, also struggle with the violence involved in growing upon the less favoured side of the 'Broken City'.In stories such as 'Flash Mob', a group of teenagers goes to the beach in thesummer of 2015, a time marked by Rio's military police presence, allegedlyaimed at discouraging organized gang looting. In 'Fr. Miguel Station, a groupof friends find themselves staring down the barrels of militia semi-automatics,while in 'Russian Roulette', the routine of some children in Bangu is sent into aspin by the appearance of a revolver.This is a spellbinding debut about masculinity, corruption, guilt, poverty andresilience. Martins boasts superb mastery of both form and storytelling; thisstory collection is completely of our time yet promises to be profoundly timeless.