The Wreckers

"A devilishly picaresque excursion into the history and legacy of Portugal’s African slave trade."—THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Brilliant."—CRIME READS

Lisbon, 1954. In the Military History Archives, a mysterious figure steals the Final Will and Testament of Garoto Bárbaro de Castro—a list of thirteen bequests, and a record of Garoto’s remarkable life story. It is also a window onto the many other lives connected to his, including that of the archival thief: his descendent, Nuno Bárbaro de Castro.

After stealing Garoto’s Final Will and Testament, Nuno Bárbaro de Castro—artifact hunter, grave robber, fake veterinarian, and agent of Angolan Independence—sets off to hunt the listed artifacts, while also collecting the distant relatives of those mentioned in the Will, even when they don’t want to be collected…

A rowdy, darkly funny, centuries-spanning revenge drama, The Wreckers moves between Portugal, Angola, Cuba, and Louisiana’s ‘Angola’ prison to examine the scars of the transatlantic slave trade, and the consequences of prolonged civil war.