There are many favelas in Rio de Janeiro, but Mundão is the poorest. And in this poor community, three people will change forever. A Catholic priest with an ignominious past, a female drug kingpin who has suffered the taboos of Brazilian society, and a washed-up American musician with nothing left to live for. As they struggle with their demons, the world around them is changing. The government plans to pacify Mundão with a crushing police invasion.
The Pilgrims of Saint Sebastian is a novel about the forces and moments that shape our lives. Religious extremism, desperation and suffering, the politics of a changing nation, and the corruption of childhood. This is a novel about the dangers of modernism, which sometimes charges the highest price from those least willing to pay.