Heliopolis

James Scudamore’s comic, violent and poignant rags-to-riches tale is the story of a man whose appetites risk taking him to the brink of madness.Leo has returned to the vast city of São Paulo, where he was born in a shantytown. He is now on the opposite side of its social divide. Aged 27, he works for a vacuous ‘communications company’, marketing unwanted, unaffordable products aimed at the very underclass into which he was born. He has developed an obsessive, adulterous love for his adoptive sister, whose husband is his only friend. And he has a hunger that can never be satisfied. Welcome to Leo’s world."Scudamore has the superb novelist’s gift for giving vivid, sympathetic life to even second-string characters, as well as his main ones; and he also has the extraordinary power of summoning an entire brooding, smoggy city to life. Most of all, though, he has the ability to take on the heaviest of themes with the lightest and most compelling of touches, and leave you with an appetite for more." - The Daily Telegraph UKJames Scudamore is the author of the novels English Monsters, Wreaking, Heliopolis, and The Amnesia Clinic. He has received the Somerset Maugham Award and been nominated for the Costa First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Man Booker Prize. Man Booker Prize Nominee: A Latin American rags-to-riches story filled with "morbid humor and blistering social commentary" ( Publishers Weekly ). Born in a São Paulo shantytown, Ludo has followed a remarkable trajectory from one side of the city's impermeable social divide to the other. Rescued and raised by a plutocrat, Ludo is now entrenched in the gated, guarded community of the super-rich. At twenty-seven, Ludo works for a vacuous "communications company" that markets unwanted, unaffordable products aimed at the very underclass into which he was born and from which he escaped. To make matters more complicated, he has developed an obsessive, adulterous love for his adoptive sister, whose husband is his only friend. Now, Ludo's involvement in an ill-conceived supermarket launch aimed at the favela's desperately poor population risks embroiling him in a world of violence and brutality, in this incisive novel that is by turns darkly humorous and deeply poignant. "A triumph." — New Statesman Born In A São Paulo Shantytown, Ludo Undergoes A Remarkable Transformation From One Side Of The City’s Impermeable Social Divide To The Other. Rescued And Raised By A Plutocrat, Zeno Generoso, Ludo Finds Himself Entrenched In The Gated, Guarded Community Of The Super-rich. Now Twenty-seven, Ludo Works For A Vacuous “communications Company” That Markets Unwanted, Unaffordable Products Aimed At The Very Underclass Into Which He Was Born And From Which He Escaped. To Make Matters More Complicated, He Has Developed An Obsessive, Adulterous Love For His Adoptive Sister, Whose Husband Is His Only Friend. Ludo’s Involvement In An Ill-conceived Supermarket Launch Aimed At The Favela’s Desperately Poor Population Risks Embroiling Him In A World Of Violence And Brutality. By Turns Darkly Humorous And Poignant, James Scudamore’s Booker Prize-nominated Novel Is A Highly Original, Surprising Take On The Rags-to-riches Story. "Born in one of São Paulo's teeming 'favelas', Ludo makes a remarkable journey from one side of the city's impermeable social divide to the other. Rescued and raised by the plutocrat Zé Generoso, Ludo has spent his young life in the gated, guarded community of the super rich, shuffling from country estate to city in the family helicopter. Now, after a failed stint at an illustrious business school in America, Ludo has returned to São Paulo, where he works at a vacuous communications company that is busily marketing a new chain of MaxiBudget supermarkets to the city's poorest residents. Ludo is thus forced to promote his adopted lifestyle to the slums from which he emerged and navigate his own uncomfortable place in a cavernous class divide. To make matters vastly more complicated, he has developed an obsessive, adulterous love for his adoptive sister, whose husband is his only friend."--Front flap "Born in one of Sao Paulo's teeming 'favelas', Ludo makes a remarkable journey from one side of the city's impermeable social divide to the other. Rescued and raised by the plutocrat Ze Generoso, Ludo has spent his young life in the gated, guarded community of the super rich, shuffling from country estate to city in the family helicopter. Now, after a failed stint at an illustrious business school in America, Ludo has returned to Sao Paulo, where he works at a vacuous communications company that is busily marketing a new chain of MaxiBudget supermarkets to the city's poorest residents. Ludo is thus forced to promote his adopted lifestyle to the slums from which he emerged and navigate his own uncomfortable place in a cavernous class divide. To make matters vastly more complicated, he has developed an obsessive, adulterous love for his adoptive sister, whose husband is his only friend."--Front flap.