Story summary
Samenvatting van Creoolse liefde
- 8 min. leestijd
- 10 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A Portuguese monarchist exile sails to Buenos Aires, where every woman and every deal tempts him.
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Creoolse liefde in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 5 h 45 min4 h 30 min fast, 6 h 50 min slow
- Lengte
- 81.600 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Uitdagend long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1913by Abel Acácio de Almeida Botelho
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
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Creoolse liefde in short
Creole Love follows a vain Portuguese gentleman who leaves home after the fall of the monarchy and lands in a booming Argentina. On the ship he meets swindlers and a sweet-minded girl. In Buenos Aires he finds wide avenues, mud and speculation.
What Creoolse liefde is about
What happens to a charming idler when he lands in a city that sells every dream at once? In Creole Love, João da Silveira sails from Lisbon for Buenos Aires after the fall of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910. He is a country gentleman of forty, handsome and lazy, with a weakness for women and a poor head for money.
The Portuguese writer Abel Botelho wrote the novel while serving as his country's diplomat in Argentina. It was published after his death. The story begins at the harbour in Lisbon, where Silveira leans on the rail of the Almeria and tries not to look back.
Voor wie is het?. You will enjoy this if you like satirical travel stories, vivid pictures of a young city, comic con men, and a hero whose appetites run ahead of his good sense.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A royalist exile sails for the New World
João da Silveira boards the Almeria in Lisbon on a hot February afternoon. The republic of 1910 has swept away his world, and he decides he is a man without a country. He leaves his fiancée Laurita behind and writes that his honour forces him into exile.
For a few months he plotted against the new regime, like many of his class. He gave money and made speeches but never risked his own skin. After a failed raid at Chaves he stopped for good.
The narrator paints him plainly. He is tall, dark and vain, a spoiled heir who has never worked. His one real passion is women of every colour and class. At dinner he meets the first comic types, including the count Améglio, a smooth talker with an Irish wife named Edith.
The exile leaves home, but he carries his vanity and his appetites with him.
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Irene and the ship's festivities blur the way
On the second day Silveira spots a slender Argentine girl who seems made of air.
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Buenos Aires greets him with noise and mud
The Almeria passes Brazil, with brief stops along the coast.
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Swindlers and invitations fill his first weeks
Silveira soon calls on the Améglio couple, who live in a shabby rented room full of crates.
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The estancia and the girl at the roadside
Jorge takes Silveira south by train and car to the ranch called Amalia.
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Maria Mercedes arrives and the ombu festival
Maria Mercedes comes by train from Buenos Aires, fair, curvy and dressed to be admired, carrying a rare lapdog she insured for its life.
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Money fever and a girl in the street
Back in the city, Silveira catches the business fever.
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Easy money and the cost of ambition
One of the book's strongest ideas is that the new country is a giant gambling table.
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Three women measure one man
The other great theme is desire, and what a man does with it.
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A satirist's eye for faces and places
Abel Botelho tells the story in a rich, crowded style.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- João da Silveira A vain, handsome Portuguese royalist, forty years old, who flees the republic for Argentina and chases women and quick fortunes.
- Irene Wimeyer A thoughtful young Argentine met on the ship, who prizes feeling over show and wants a friend, not a flatterer.
- Mrs Edith The calm, lovely Irish wife of the count, who teases Silveira on board and keeps him dangling in the city.
- Count Améglio A talkative fake aristocrat who tries to sell doubtful old paintings and claims a secret method to prove them real.
- Pedro Azeredo Silveira's quick-witted friend who arrived earlier, guides him through Buenos Aires and warns him against traps and bad habits.
- Jorge Saavedra A rich, easygoing young Argentine who loves horses, gossip and night life, and invites Silveira to his family's ranch.
- Maria Mercedes Jorge's cousin, a clever, beautiful widow who loves attention, mocks patriotism and organizes a festival for the ranch.
- Luísa A shy, loyal country girl whom Silveira rescues and who follows him to the city, wanting only to be near him.
How it ends (spoiler)
The book does not reach a conclusion. It stops while Silveira, short of money and shaken by his coldness toward Luísa, hurries through the city towards a charity show where he hopes to find Maria Mercedes. An editor's note says the author died before finishing, and that the final part could not be found.
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What is Creole Love about?
It follows João da Silveira, a Portuguese monarchist who flees the republic and sails to Buenos Aires. There he meets con men, high society, a lively widow and a simple country girl, while his money and his heart are put to the test.
Is Creole Love a true story?
It is a novel, but it draws on real scenes. It is set just after the Portuguese republic of 1910 and captures Buenos Aires, its racecourse, its elections and life on a cattle ranch in the pampa.
What does the title Creole Love mean?
Creole here means the native Argentine way of life. The title points to the love stories Silveira meets in this setting, from fleeting flirtations on a ship to a heartfelt devotion from a poor country girl.
Why is the ombu tree important in the book?
The ombu is a huge old tree on the Saavedra ranch. Country people think it brings bad luck, so when Maria Mercedes decides to place a holy statue under it, the tree becomes a symbol of old fears and new ideas.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Botelho, Abel Acácio de Almeida. Creole Love. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/creole-love.
Botelho, A. A. de A. (2026). Creole love. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/creole-love (Original work published 1913)
Botelho, Abel Acácio de Almeida. Creole Love. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/creole-love.
@book{botelho2026creole,
author = {Botelho, Abel Acácio de Almeida},
title = {Creole Love},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/creole-love},
note = {First published 1913}
}
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