There Were Many Horses is a groundbreaking work of contemporary Brazilian literature now available in English for the first time.

It’s May 9, 2000, and São Paulo is teeming with life. As Luiz Ruffato describes the scenes around him on this one typical day, he deciphers every minute and second of a metropolis marked by diversity—a mosaic of people from all over Brazil and the world that defines São Paulo’s personality at the start of the twenty-first century. The city is more than just traffic jams, parks, and global financial maneuvering. It is alive, and every rat and dusty grocery truck informs its distinctive character.

Winner of the Brazilian National Library’s Machado de Assis Award and the APCA Award for best novel.

Translated by: Anthony Doyle