Upon waking with a start that night in June 1848 , the young Benedetta could not imagine the radical transformation that his life would suffer . A year later , having lost all that bound to Pernambuco , embarked with few possessions and tight heart toward Moc̜âmedes . Followed with more than a hundred Portuguese who , disillusioned with Brazil , seeking a new opportunity , founding an agricultural colony across the Atlantic . A Farm in Africa follows the lives and stories of the early settlers in a brutal land , bringing to the surface the successes and setbacks , the dangers and surprises of their attachment in a harsh and savage territory. Based on meticulous historical research and having the backdrop of colonization Moc̜âmedes , this new novel by João Pedro Marques takes us through a simultaneously heartwarming and inclement Africa , laden with exotic and whose rails adventure and love go hand in hand .