Maria das Dores

Maria das Dores, referred to as Dores, is the narrator of the novel and the main character in her story. She looks back on her life from her perspective as a 95-year-old woman searching for emotional peace. Dores is born in Pernambuco, Brazil in 1920 to an unwed mother who worked as a cane cutter on Riacho Doce. Dores is orphaned at birth and raised by the cook of Riacho Doce’s Great House, Nena. She receives nutrients as a baby from a donkey’s teat, branding her with the nickname, Jega. She is bullied for her mother’s promiscuity and her low social standing and beaten by her stern caretaker. Dores befriends Graça, the new Little Miss, and Senhora Pimentel taught her English alongside Graça. Hearing the fado singer courtesy of Senhora Pimentel sparks Dores’s passion for music.

Dores is intelligent, which eventually...