Before I Lost My Country (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798410523004)

The book tells the story of how a young man survived the system, mainly describing João's life during his time in the army and his relationship with Zita (Bela in the book) until his birthday in October, the year of the 1974 revolution in Portugal. The book in Portuguese is called now 1974.

He joined the army in January 1971. All young Africans his age were also obliged to join the army. They all had the same rights and obligations as João.

In the previous decade, a tribal revolt and some guerrilla attempts against the colonial occupation had been totally defeated. In 1974, before the revolution in the European country, the nationalist organisations were on the road to self-destruction, through infighting within and between themselves, resignation and complacency, but above all betrayal and corruption.

In reality, the risk to soldiers' lives in enemy actions was low, despite some deaths on the borders (mainly African civilians) in the north and east, as a reporter wrote in 1973: 'In this year of peace, more soldiers have drowned in Angola's rivers (six) than in hostilities.'

João's military service lasted much longer than expected, mainly because of Zita, whose real name was Maria dos Prazeres Salavessa Hormigo. She was a young woman who wanted to marry him, but accused him of rape when the relationship ended.

Six months after the revolution in the European country, João returned to the African capital for good and found the city in a state of panic, quickly realising that civil war had broken out. Zita, to his surprise, wanted revenge.
João's life was turned upside down and he remained in the army while her accusations were investigated. It wasn't the first time that João had been accused of a terrible crime. PIDE, or the political police, Colonel Bonito Perfeito, and corrupt military lawyers had also accused him the previous year of one or more crimes.

On his birthday (late October), the same day he was discharged from the army, he received bad news directly from his father. Everything around John seemed to be falling apart and he couldn't know that things were about to get much worse.

John survived.

Author: Phillip Reese
ISBN-13: 9798410523004
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 01/31/2022
Pages: 318
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.03lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.71d