A Árvore e Os Frutos

Afonso Ribeiro was born in 1911 in Vila da Rua, Moimenta da Beira. He was a primary school teacher and had a deep understanding of the poor in rural areas, their arduous lives, and the lack of solidarity from landowners. This inspiration flowed, without artifice, into his fourteen books, in which he demystifies the happy and healthy life in the countryside and constructs real narratives of sad existences, hunger, disease, and "slave" agricultural labor.
As one of the founders of Rising Sun, in 1938 published Illusion in DeathHis work, censored by the PIDE (Portuguese secret police), established him as a precursor of neorealism. His life was marked by persecution from the Salazar regime, which prevented him from becoming a teacher, forced him into journalism, and even after his escape to Mozambique, not only closed all doors but also led to his imprisonment. Ten years after his return to Portugal, in 1986, already immersed in a certain oblivion and lack of money, he still wrote. The Tree and the Fruits.
The brilliant author and short story writer from Vila da Rua died in Cascais in 1993.