Alma Welt, a poet and painter with a deep soul and indomitable spirit, returns after years of absence to her homeland in the Brazilian Pampas after receiving news from her brother Rôdo that the family estate will soon be put up for sale. Driven by a deep connection to her native home, Alma embarks on what is also, and above all, an inner journey. An indomitable soul with a rebellious spirit, a profound lover of art in all its aspects, in each chapter Alma, starting from the present situation, retraces salient moments of her past: the deep bond with her father, her disagreements with her mother who never fully understood her profound being and her free nature, her brotherly love with Rôdo and her disagreements with her sister Solange. Throughout the narrative, the profound suffering that has accompanied her for most of her life but also, and above all, the sense of freedom and depth, the profound way in which she feels each and every emotion, is evident.
Will Alma, with the help of her beloved Aline, succeed in saving the family estate?
Alma Welt (1972-2007) was poet and prolific prose writer, a young, beautiful and mysterious woman who did not allow herself to be photographed, only allowing her portraits to be published in drawings, engravings and oil paintings by Guilherme de Faria, her authorized portraitist, a painter from São Paulo who illustrated, prefaced, and edited her, launching her into the artistic world of São Paulo from 2001 onwards, when he discovered her in his self-exile in Paulicéia, in her painting studio in a residential apartment in Jardins. The remarkable circumstances of this providential meeting were narrated by her in her short story entitled “Anagramas” (found on Google search).
Alma committed suicide at the age of 35 by drowning, in her Pampian resort, at the height of her talent and beauty. However, the circumstances of her death remain controversial. Alma has become a cult author on the Internet since 2006 thanks to the dedication of her sister Lucia Welt, who manages the Poet’s immense literary estate: there are around five thousand sonnets alone and they are published on the Internet in around 60 blogs divided by thematic genres.
As a natural narrator, Alma has a lot to say, a lot to tell and she does it in an engaging and charming way.
Guilherme Caiuby de Faria –
It’s a wonderful novel ! A great work of art.
Lucia Welt –
It’s a wonderful novel !
Guilherme Caiuby de Faria –
I assume that Alma Welt’s fans, those who have actually read her, loved her… and were even surprised by her, have noticed the profoundly “feminist” aspect of her work. Yes, feminism in the best sense of the word. Alma Welt, as her name suggests (Anina Mundi), is the “Woman for all women” and clearly has an archetypal quality in her rich personality. Alma combines all the qualities of a human being with those that are specifically feminine: she is intelligent, talented, fluent and pleasant in telling confessional stories, cultured, lucid, sensitive, courageous, tenacious, intense, passionate, obstinate, sensual, loving, gentle, filial, maternal, fervent, vulnerable and… candid… just look at that! Yes, she has a surprising and even paradoxical candor in such an intelligent woman. Candor? Yes, a certain captivating naivety that occurs in people with pure souls… – So, is she a perfect being? Yes, she is, in my opinion. And would her vulnerability, which you yourself included, be a quality, not a defect? The answer is simple: It is what makes her human, not a goddess. We can see throughout her short stories, poems, and memorial novels how many times she was a victim, harassed, abused, sexually violated because of her almost unreal and obsessive beauty, like a modern Helen of Troy. But she also always rises from the ashes of depression, like a Phoenix…
What does this mean (literarily speaking)? I answer: it means the Universal History of the Oppressed Condition of Women throughout all of Human History on Earth.
Eliana Tavares de Mattos –
What is the meaning, or greater sense, behind this work that undoubtedly represents the pinnacle of expression of the character-author-muse, the German-Gaucho poet and beauty Alma Welt? It is a beautiful HYMN TO LIFE, LOVE, FREEDOM and INDIVIDUALITY, as well as to ART itself, which permeates everything, through the beauty and excellence of its language. Yes, it is, in fact, an example of “high culture” in a world in social and cultural decline, and therefore also of the language that characterizes our time. I imagine, for example, an average, unwary reader being surprised by the cultured, refined, somewhat “late romantic” (in the best sense) language of the narrator Alma, who, however, maintaining a colloquial tone, discards any hypothesis of pedantry in her fluent expression. The gaucho young lady Alma Welt, as anyone can see, possesses a femininity, a charm and even a rare existential courage, with a life and light of her own, although this can be said of any great character of a good writer. Is she the one writing it? Is this a real autobiographical saga? In any case, we are faced with a treasure…