Telma Rocha

A scroll through Telma Rocha’s Instagram account will give you an infectious boost of literary enthusiasm. If you’re a writer, your thoughts will veer to your WIP or your story idea. Those who are bookish will consider her numerous book reviews. She’s that influential. Telma is an avid reader, a NaNoWriMo believer, and spends time promoting local talent. It’s not surprising that Telma Rocha’s love of reading and writing led to her debut book, The Angolan Girl: A True-Life Novel, about the life of her grandmother.

For twenty years, Telma Rocha dreamt of writing The Angolan Girl. Imagine being the granddaughter of Rosa Carvalho, a woman who lived amid the Angolan War of Independence [from Portugal] with her family of seven and then escaping her country. Immediately after Angola became independent, the Angolan Civil War began. Telma was a baby, not yet two years old, when the family split into different directions, fearing for their lives. Knowing that her grandmother’s story was no ordinary life, Telma fulfilled her dream.

The Angolan Girl is a fascinating portrayal of Rosa’s life. A biracial child in a colonized country, Rosa Soares was raised partially in Lobito, Angola, by her Portuguese White father, Manual, and in Luanda, Angola, by his sister, Mariazinha. Rosa’s Angolan Black mother, Antonietta, presumably, was not allowed to raise her daughter. The couple was unmarried, and the father had control of the decision.

A challenging yet heartwarming coming of age story that developed into a decades-long, unpredictable existence, The Angolan Girl blended heartache, love, family, and perseverance into a historic setting that dictated the lives of this family. They experienced hunger, fear, and the sight of corpses as they contemplated their options. However, before their nightmare began, the joy of Rosa and Leo Carvalho’s love for each other and their sometimes-unruly children evoked emotional balance.

Readers of The Angolan Girl have expressed empathy for Rosa as she encountered each hurdle in her life; however, mostly, Rosa is admired for her wisdom, strength, and dedication to her family. Telma Rocha also incorporated the right amount of Angolan history, and readers responded with awe to their acquired knowledge of Portuguese colonialism and the subsequent Angolan Civil War. Telma Rocha traveled to Estoril, Portugal, where her family lived as refugees after The Angolan Girl was published – undoubtedly an emotional experience.

The success of The Angolan Girl led to a Portuguese language edition as Telma Rocha awaits the publication of her second novel, From Far and Wide, set to be released in March 2021. A follow up to The Angolan Girl, it takes place on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada, and explores love, loss, and forgiveness. There will be a Portuguese language edition of this novel, too.

The third novel by Telma Rocha is in the final stages of completion. Her love of writing is expressed in a message to her Instagram followers:

Books are magical things; they start off as a seed, planted in a writer’s head and if the seed is fed enough love, courage, determination, and TIME, then that seeds blossoms into something magical that we get to hold in our hands!

Telma, what a beautiful landscape postcard! I’m a fan of lighthouses. Who knows… I may get to visit the Swallowtail Lighthouse on Grand Manan Island someday. It’s been a long while since my last visit to Canada. Thank you for sending it for my collection. 🙂

~Anita~

Sidenote: The differences between the U.S. Postal Service and the Canada Post that produced and stamped this postcard are interesting.