Arquimbau does such a good job of showing the world through Laura Vidal's eyes, yet despite the first-person narrative there's a feeling of perspective, of being able to see her as a figure against the ground of her own experiencing. Laura's youthful shyness develops into an emotional self-distancing, and finally into cynicism and an isolation she convinces herself is strength and independence. There's obviously much autobiography here, but I do hope Rosa Maria was happier in her own life than the character she created in this superficially cold and detached, but actually deeply emotional, novella.
There's a short author biography at the back which sketches out Arquimbau's life and times, which I read part way through the book itself, and which I think would have done well as an introduction. 4⭐, but I think it might, with reflection, grow to 5. ( )