I loved getting to know Graça and Dores, two brave young women who leave the lives they were given behind in pursuit of the lives they desire. This novel has countless nuggets of wisdom that sneak up on you at the perfect moment...You'll love this story of a lifelong friendship-and like me, you might find yourself looking back at the songs or people that first shaped you. - Diane Guerrero, author of In the Country We Love, starred in the hit series Orange is the New Black.

Echoes of Elena Ferrante resound in this sumptuous saga.-O, The Oprah Magazine

A poor orphan and a wealthy heiress whose roller-coaster friendship is a welcome reminder that time can make any relationship stronger.-Glamour

Samba music and its allure beats beneath this winding and sinuous tale of ambition, memory, and identity...Peebles' detailed and atmospheric story is cinematic in scope, panoramic in view, and lyrical in tone. -Kirkus, STARRED review

A sweeping, cinematic and thoroughly engrossing tale about an eduring friendship and the story of samba. . .[An] unforgettable novel.-BookPage

This epic novel will transport you to places as far-flung as Brazil's heyday of samba and Los Angeles' Golden Age of Hollywood. But what will keep you reading is Frances de Pontes Peebles' description of a friendship that bridged socioeconomic classes during their youths, and shifted and persisted throughout the girls' lives...One a singer and the other a songwriter, they'll chart each other's paths towards fame, a journey laced with treachery and excitement. -Refinery29

Frances de Pontes Peebles' tender novel follows this unlikely friendship and the jealousy and rivalry that come with their pursuit of fame. -Real Simple

Peebles does a marvelous job of evoking the world of samba, which forms the backdrop to the complicated relationship the two women share. Readers...will be rewarded with complex characters and a well-realized setting. -Booklist

Peebles presents a captivating...portrait of friendship...[the book's] reflections on love, music, envy, and loyalty ache with feeling, and a hint of mystery surrounding the central relationship's dissolution will keep readers intrigued until the end. -Publishers Weekly

Although this novel is set during the 1930s in Brazil, the tale between two friends remains timeless...Each page is as intoxicating as the characters themselves; the perfect read for a long weekend or day off. -Fashion Week Online

A soaring fusion of emotion, intense drama, and the compelling rhythms of Brazilian music, The Air You Breathe belongs to the special category of historical novels that chronicle entire lives - and it does so in enthralling fashion...Dores narrates in a voice as lyrical and achingly passionate as the sambas she writes...The novel is an intoxicating performance itself, not to be missed by anyone wanting to be wrapped up in a well-told story. -Historical Novel Society

A masterfully choreographed saga of friendship, envy, sacrifice and love-as soulful, layered, and intoxicating as the samba that reverberates from the page. -Georgia Hunter, New York Times-bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones

The Air You Breathe is that kind of fairy tale where the curse is that your dreams come true, and keep coming true, and you have to survive it for the rest of your life. Two girls run after their dreams of samba, stardom, friendship, and art, and the result is this glittering, mesmerizing triumph of a novel. -Alexander Chee, author of The Queen of the Night

A glittering, beautiful story full of romance and intrigue and tragedy... hard to put down. -Anton DiSclafani, New York Times-bestselling author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

I was captivated by this narrator's voice-wise with years of secrets, disappointments, and burning proximity to so much heat and light. And what a story she has to tell: an aching reminiscence of lives entwined by music, friendship, and lon