Ferrugem Americana

Set in Pennsylvania, against a backdrop of great beauty but economically destroyed, it is a book about the loss of the American dream and despair and the friendship, loyalty and love that come from it.
This is the story of two boys linked to the city by family, responsibility, inertia and beauty, who dream of a future beyond factories and abandoned houses. Isaac English is left to look after his father after his mother commits suicide and his sister runs away to Yale University. When he finally decides to leave, accompanied by his best friend, the temperamental Billy Poe, former high school football star, they are caught up in a terrible act of violence that changes their lives forever. American Rust, evocative of Steinbeck's novels, takes us to the heart of contemporary America at a time of deep unease and uncertainty about the future. It is a dark but lucid and moving novel, about the desolation that clashes with our desire for transcendence and about the saving capacity of love and friendship.