First of Robb's books I've read but I know it won't be the last. This is my favourite kind of writing: a portrait of a place, folding together disparate elements of history and culture imaginatively and with real purpose. Beautiful writing - particularly about food! - and a passionate immersion in the subject.

'Amber lit anecdotes of being held up at knife-point in Rio rest side-by-side with grim investigations into the country's ancient slave-owning past. The result is an intoxicating cocktail of a book-one that is equal partsdanger and sex, mixed together with a splash of erudition.' -John Freeman, Newsday Deliciously sensuous and fascinating, Robb renders in vivid detail the intoxicating pleasures of Brazil's food, music, literature, and landscape as he travels not only cross country but also back in time-from the days of slavery to modern day political intrigue and murder. Spellbinding and revelatory, Peter Robb paints a multi-layered portrait of Brazil as a country of intoxicating and passionate extremes.