Becoming Brazilian

A novel by Jennifer Prado
Copyright 2008 All rights reserved
wc: 70,000

When stressed-out, twenty-six-year-old Julia Cordeiro loses her job on Wall Street and on the same day gets dumped by her fiancé; she makes a spontaneous decision to escape to a sleepy fishing village in southern Brazil before she loses her mind, too.

The relaxed atmosphere of Santa Marta is completely contrary to the intensity of New York City, and Julia blissfully doesn't know a soul in the rugged coastal town -- it's exactly the kind of place Julia needs in order to reinvent herself. But it's not as easy as it sounds, because Julia doesn't quite know who she wants to be.

Through a series of romantic foibles and cultural mishaps in her adopted home, Julia learns the hard way how to finally differentiate between love and lust, relationships and one-night stands. Along the way she meets an array of unusual characters who become her unlikely friends: a young boy with a presidential name, an older Chilean man, a disgruntled office worker from London, a Finnish traveler with rock-star magnetism, a local transsexual and expert in feminine charm, an attractive Brazilian innkeeper, and a too-young-to-be-any-good-for-her surfer. Each new encounter challenges Julia's ideals and exposes her weaknesses, until she must make the hardest decision of her life. Only then can she begin putting herself back together again. Quite possibly, Santa Marta will be the one place where Julia finally gets it right.

Set against the exotic landscape of Brazil, with its lazily sensual lifestyle, "Becoming Brazilian" is a fast-paced and light-hearted adventure story for young modern women who are full of questions about life’s priorities and not afraid of traveling alone.

Samples of Published Fiction:

The Banker and the Buddhist
Nominated for the 2006 StorySouth Million Writers Award, which honors the best online fiction of the year.

Purchase, "Latina in Wonderland" on Amazon
Latina

Print Anthologies

Nuvein - Cultural Anthology

Forthcoming 2008: Essay in a David Barringer Anthology - Trade Paperback
What Happened to Us These Last Couple Years?-Publisher: So New Publishing, Eugene, OR

Featured Author on Good Reads

My Blog, Emerge - New Authors

Author’s Biography:

Jennifer Prado has a degree in Latin American Studies and Fiction Writing from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and studied screenwriting at Film and Video Arts in New York City. Jennifer is the author of the YA magical realism fable, "Latina in Wonderland," and is donating the author´s proceeds to UNICEF. Her short fiction and essays have been published in numerous web magazines and have appeared in two print anthologies. Jennifer currently works as a Marketing Strategist in New York City and Latin America.

Becoming Brazilian - A Novel

Five-Second Pitch: Chick Lit on the Road

The Estrogen Version of "The Motorcycle Diaries" or "Bridget Jones with a Passport."