I met Pedro Barrento a year or so ago through social networking. A native of Mozambique, his newest novel is Marlene and Sofia. Pedro is one of the more engaging writers I’ve met and I recommend you check out his newest offering.

About Marlene and Sofia

A writer struggles to finish a book that someone else started writing,
battling to weave his own characters and plot into the pre-existing
manuscript.

A group of well-off old people in a retirement home seek relief from
boredom by using an internet service which allows them to live out
their fantasies virtually. Two working-class men, one young and
disenfranchised, one a lifelong Communist, discuss their differing
world views. An unstable computer genius and a control freak banker
form an uneasy alliance to launch a new internet sensation, while the
free-spirited girlfriend of one of them, Marlene, wreaks havoc
wherever she goes. In the midst of this confusion, her best friend
Sofia searches for a kinder, simpler way of life.

All these stories gradually interconnect in the most unexpected ways…

By turns cynical and romantic, satirical and unexpectedly sweet,
Marlene and Sofia – A Double Love Story reflects the sexual and
political contradictions of contemporary living as well as introducing
a whole new concept of eroticism for the twenty-first century.

About Pedro Barrento

Pedro Barrento was born in Mozambique in 1961. He has written two
books: The Prince and the Singularity – A Circular Tale and Marlene
and Sofia – A Double Love Story.