Southampton Phoenix

When twelve-year-old Mauro's parents need to go on the run because of their involvement in resisting the repressive 1970s Brazilian government, they drop him off at the home of his orthodox Jewish grandfather in Sao Paolo. The neighbourhood and its denizens are mostly a mystery to the lovable boy, whose own lack of Jewish upbringing is much commented upon by his grandfather's taciturn neighbour Shlomo, who takes him in. Thus begins a strange number of months, filled with Mauro's awakening political consciousness and immersion in the Jewish culture of Sao Paolo's Bom Retiro district.