Through a family story, centered around the return of the "prodigal son," The Ancient Cultivation addresses the timeless themes of patriarchy, the limits of coexistence within the family, freedom, loneliness, and violence. Nassaar does this in a masterful and original way, redefining language from the ground up, in a text filled with images and metaphors that activate all the senses of the reader who is called to return to their own first reading, to their own initiation into the world of literature.

For André, who grows up on a farm in Brazil, life consists of "the land, the wheat, the bread, our table, our family." André loves his land, fears his authoritarian, religious father who officiates from the head of the table as if from a pulpit, and hates himself for the unconfessed feelings he has for his sister Ana. Lyrical and sensual, imbued with biblical tragedy, The Ancient Cultivation follows André on the difficult path to adulthood, in the conflict he experiences between body and soul, duty and freedom.

After writing The Ancient Cultivation, his only novel, in 1975, and his emblematic novella A Glass of Rage (1978, Patakis Publications, 2023), Nassaar withdrew from literature and devoted himself to cultivating the land for over forty years. These two books earned him a top position in Brazilian literature, alongside Guimarães Rosa and Clarice Lispector.

"The end of each chapter leaves us thirsty for the next, in a relentless journey, in a reading that does not merely enjoy but devours the text." Becca Rothfeld, Bookforum

"With the publication of his first and only novel, Nassaar became a legend in Brazil. Now, with its translation into English, he is conquering the whole world." The Independent