Os/Les Portugais

The book follows Mário, an 18-year-old who flees Portugal hidden in the trunk of an old car to escape the dictatorship. Left behind by his smuggler at the Franco-Spanish border, he meets another young compatriot named Nel. Together, they navigate the gritty, adventurous, and difficult reality of Portuguese immigrants living in a shanty town (bidonville) in the Paris region during the 1970s—working construction jobs, gathering for vinho verde, and fighting to rebuild their lives. It blends an intimate personal friendship with the broader history of thousands of Portuguese citizens escaping the Salazar regime just as Portugal transitioned to democracy after the Carnation Revolution of 1974.