Previously published as Mãe pátria by Companhia das Letras in Brazil, 2020

Translated from the Portuguese

Author's note -- Intoduction: a path of no return -- The golden years -- The party's over -- The caracazo -- Beauty and the beast -- You won't be back -- The lord of the TV -- A distant apocalypse -- They are never going to leave -- Every man for himslef -- How things are here -- Things didn't work out -- Tiny catastrophes -- You can't go back -- About the author -- About the translators

"From Venezuelan reporter Paula Ra̤mn comes a powerful memoir about one woman's complicated relationship with her family as her beloved homeland collapses into ruin. In the span of a generation, oil-rich Venezuela spiraled into a dire state of economic collapse. Reporter Paula Ra̤mn experienced the crisis firsthand as her middle-class family saw their quality of life deteriorate. Public services no longer functioned. Money lost its value. Her mother couldn't afford to buy food, which was increasingly scarce. The once-prosperous country fell into ruin. Like many others, Ra̤mn's family struggled to survive each day in their beloved city, Maracaibo--until, one by one, they each made the unbearable choice to leave the home they love. In the end, it was Ra̤mn's mother, a widow, who stayed behind, loyal to the only home she'd ever known. In this heartbreaking mix of lived experience, family chronicle, and journalistic essay, Paula Ra̤mn explores the anguish of her own relationships set against the staggering collapse of a country. Motherland is a uniquely human account about the ties that bind--and the fragile concept of home"--