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The Shepherd's House
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The Shepherd’s House

$22.00

By Olinda Beja
Edited by Margaret Jull Costa
Translations by Margaret Jull Costa, Ana Fletcher, Tasmin Harrison, Clare Keates, Ana Cristina Dos Santos Morais, Yema Njolela, Robin Patterson, Ana Silva and Sandra Fernandes Tavares.

Seventeen stories. Nine translators. The Shepherd’s House is the result of a unique transatlantic collaboration, uniting talents from across Europe and the United States. First published in Portugal as A Casa do Pastor, this slender collection of stories by Olinda Beja draws on oral histories, ancestral memory, and the author’s pastoral childhood in Portugal’s Beira Alta region. Skillfully edited by acclaimed translator Margaret Jull Costa, these stories appear in English in book form for the first time.

Rooted in the fantastical tales passed down by her grandmother and the vivid recollections of octogenarian shepherd João Grilo, Beja brings to life the soul of a culture, paying homage to “the last generation of shepherds, leaving the hills […] silent, empty of sounds and footsteps, stories and murmurings.” Born in São Tomé and Príncipe and raised in Portugal, Beja writes from the liminal space between two worlds: the São Toméan and the Lusitanian. Rather than elevating one over the other, she weaves them together, drawing deeply from her island heritage to illuminate the spirit of her homeland. From lively saints’ festivals and harsh hilltop justice to the ache of lost love and stories steeped in magic and mischief, Beja infuses each tale with warmth and reverence. Her voice is intimate and assured, carrying the rhythms, memories, and soul of a bygone world. The Shepherd’s House is both a poignant witness to a vanishing way of life and a testament to the enduring power of storytelling.

Publication date: August 26, 2025

American and international customers may place orders directly through our distributor, Asterism Books.

Category:

Price: $22.00 CDN
AUGUST 2026
ISBN: 9781777626471
Softcover / 120 pages / 13.3 x 20.3 cm (5.25″ x 8″)
Short stories

About the author
Olinda Beja was born in Guadalupe in 1946, in the former Portuguese colony of São Tomé and Príncipe. When she was only three years old, her Portuguese father took her to live in Beira Alta, northern Portugal, where she attended school and university. She returned to São Tomé and Príncipe in 1985 after the country gained independence. An acclaimed poet with eight books of poetry, Beja is also the author of two novels, six short story collections, and three children’s books. She is regarded as one of the leading literary voices of São Tomé and Príncipe. Her work has earned her numerous awards, and several of her children’s books are included in the national curriculum. She frequently conducts readings and storytelling sessions alongside the São Tomé singer-songwriter Filipe Santo. In April 2022, São Tomé and Príncipe appointed Olinda Beja as its ambassador of culture.

About the translation editor
Margaret Jull Costa is an award-winning translator of Portuguese and Spanish. She has translated novelists such as Javier Marías, Bernardo Atxaga, José Saramago, Machado de Assis, and Eça de Queiroz, as well as poets including Ana Luísa Amaral, Fernando Pessoa, César Vallejo, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, and Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen.

Praise for The Shepherd’s House

“There is bathos, cruelty and banality here, but there is also mystery and sublime moments shot through with astonishing beauty… At her best, conjuring the wildness of the Beira Alta mountain ranges, Beja is mesmerizing.
~ Ann Morgan, author of The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe

“In The Shepherd’s House, Olinda Beja invites us into a home built with love and memory, nestled in the heart of Beira Alta. At the center is João Grilo, “the last true shepherd,” whose stories—part legend, part truth—reveal a forgotten rhythm of life and the people of that time. Through vivid portraits that unveil the soul, and landscapes steeped in pastures, mountain mist, and ancestral wisdom, Beja brings to life the spirit of a place and its inhabitants with rare tenderness and clarity.”
~ Alberto Correia, author and historian

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