A General Theory of Oblivion

THE LETTER

Dear Managing Director of the Jornal de Angola,

My name is Maria da Piedade Lourenço Dias and I’m a clinical psychologist. About two years ago I discovered an awful truth: I was adopted. My biological mother handed me over for adoption immediately after my birth. I was confused, and decided to investigate why she did it. Ludovica Fernandes Mano — that is my biological mother’s name — was brutally raped by a stranger in the summer of 1955, and became pregnant. Following this tragic event, she always lived in the house of an older sister, Odete, who in 1973 married a mining engineer, based in Luanda, called Orlando Pereira dos Santos.

They didn’t come back to Portugal after Angola’s Independence. The Portuguese consulate in Luanda has no record of any of them either. I’m presuming to write to you in order to find out whether your newspaper might in any way be able to help me find Ludovica Fernandes Mano.

Respectfully yours,

Maria da Piedade Lourenço