"Auspicious debut . . . This wistful novel introduces a worthy new voice."--Publishers Weekly

"Disarmingly tender and feverishly sad, Gardel's love story is a delirium of a novel that reminds its readers of an uncomfortable truth: that even a life of regret can be a beautiful one."--Patrick Nathan, author of Some Hell

"Brazilian author Stênio Gardel's debut novel is deceptively slim and surprisingly tender . . . In Lobato's translation, Gardel's rhythmic, incantatory prose flickers between past and present tense and first and third person . . . Makes the whole book not only bearable but beautiful."--Vox

"Incredible debut work . . . Packs a literal and figurative punch . . . Through swirling reflections, the novel moves like a steady whirlwind, conveying inner turmoil and external inaction, punctuated by powerful sometimes devastating change."--Asymptote

"Heartbreaking account of queer desire and resilience . . . Gardel draws in part from his own experience as a civil servant for the Brazilian Electoral Court, where he assisted illiterate voters, to explore the power of the written word and the themes of prejudice, violence, and marginalization."--Mother Jones

"Poetic and intense."--University of Southern California literary journal Air/Light

"An LGBTQ+ novel from Brazil, The Words That Remain is about the damage that brutality, illiteracy and widespread homophobia do to self-love and happiness; it also illustrates the resilience of wanting to love and to be loved and accepted by oneself."--Foreword Reviews

"A heartbreaking debut novel . . . The Words That Remain is not just a love story but an expression of queer desire, struggle, and resilience in spaces outside of romantic love. Gardel's text and Lobato's translation create a puzzle that the reader is trying to solve . . . Through this process the reader is brought along on the journey of companionship, family, and love."--Reading in Translation

"Gorgeous, heartening story of queer love in rural Brazil."--The Cincinnati Review

"Gardel's ferocious debut novel roars from a deep pit of longing and puts repressed desire in a chokehold, mining it for any and all of its redemptive qualities. Despite its brevity, the novel feels like an epic."--Necessary Fiction

"An ambitious addition to the growing body of international LGBTQ literature ... Sadness and joy blend together in The Words That Remain to paint a moving story."--roughghosts

"A powerful story of the pain of marginalization: the marginalization of poverty, illiteracy, isolation, prejudice, in the tradition of the great Brazilian storytellers."--Socorro Acioli, author of The Head of the Saint

"In this novel, writing means life. There isn't a single word in it that isn't poetry."--Folha de São Paulo

"Touching on love, identity, acceptance, and violence and social exclusion, and offering a deep portrait of Brazil--giving special attention to those living in the margins--[The Words that Remain] is ingeniously woven out of a voice as tender as it is wounded."--Diário do Nordeste