Book launch June 21, 2021! Historical novel Cut From the Earth…

In 1755, the famous Portuguese tile maker, Pêro Manuel Pires is dedicated to help the enslaved to freedom and hires them to work in his shop, triggering malcontent in his competitors. Pêro harbors an illicit female artist, whose risqué creations keep the factory’s works in demand by Lisbon’s elite. But the success of her designs ignites strife. Bringing him and his loved ones under the menacing eye of the Inquisition with threat of imprisonment and closure of his shop.

When an omen is disregarded, Pêro risks his liberty and livelihood to fulfill the order to free a man. However, on November 1st, All Saints Day, churches overflowing with the devout, Portugal is struck by earthquakes, followed by tidal waves and mass fires. Pêro loses what is most dear to him. But the misfortune creates a creative crucible for another tile maker. Pêro must now choose between escaping to heal or to staying in Lisbon to fight for freedom and the future.

Praise Reviews: 

“Set in a dazzlingly artistic, affluent, and multicultural Lisbon around the time of the 1755 earthquake, Stephanie Renee dos Santos’s debut novel, Cut from the Earth, is the richly imagined history of the legendary master tile artist, known to us today only by his enigmatic initials, PMP. Dos Santos is a truly new and original voice in historical fiction.” — Mary Sharratt, award-winning bestselling author Illuminations and Revelations

“A beautifully crafted story of an ancient art, the struggle for freedom, and the need for justice, Stephanie Renee dos Santos, masterfully brings us one man’s journey through the perilous 18thcentury Portuguese Inquisition and his battle to serve both his craft and humanity. Cut from the Earth is a gripping, breathtaking tale.”— Donna Russo Morin, bestselling author of Gilded Summers

“With elegant and detailed prose, Stephanie Renee dos Santos’ debut novel CUT FROM THE EARTH illuminates an important and tumultuous corner of Portuguese art history that deserves to be better known. Impeccably researched and poetically written.” —Kris Waldherr, bestselling author of The Book of Goddesses andThe Lost History of Dreams

“Stephanie Renée dos Santos’ debut novel Cut From the Earth captures and immerses the reader into the Old World of Portugal in 1755: the noise and bustle and smells of the marketplace, the misery and fear of being enslaved, the insidious repressions of the Inquisition, and the luxurious lives of the aristocracy, whose patronage of the fine art of tile-making has put a heavy demand on the artists who labor to create the tiles which decorate palace and cathedral walls.

Dos Santos’ writing is rich in sensual details, which also reveal the transcendent love of art and family that is the center of this complex novel, the first of a planned series. The horrific event of the devastating Lisbon earthquake of 1755 does more than turn everyone’s lives upside down, it upsets an entire civilization, mirrored in the microcosm of one artist’s life. The writing almost sings itself off the page, engages the reader from the opening paragraph, and keeps you turning the pages to see what’s going to happen next.”–Mary F. Burns, author The Spoils of Avalon: A John Singer Sargent/Violet Paget Mystery Book One

“Thoughtful and rich with historical detail, Cut From The Earth, gracefully brings to life the mid-eighteenth-century world of Portugal’s master tile makers in the days immediately preceding the Great Lisbon Earthquake. Elegantly and expertly, dos Santos lets readers learn while entertaining them along the way.” —Alana White, author of The Sign of the Weeping Virgin

“Closely examining the overlooked origin of the art of the figura de convite style of tilework, this richly detailed novel, Cut from the Earth, both arrests the reader with the sensory pleasures dos Santos provides and compels the reader to continue on. A stunning blend of intriguing plot and lyrical language, this debut novel delights. —Drēma Drudge, author of Victorine

“A gripping, rich story of a small devoted family of tile-makers in 18^th century Lisbon. The father Pêro fights for the freedom of slaves; his artist wife must hide her gifts as he tries to protect her from the ever-threatening Inquisition. In a race against time to buy the freedom of a loved older slave, the earth erupts, a tidal wave crashes into the harbor, much of the city crumbles, and Pêro’s deep faith is shaken. Gorgeous writing leaps through this vivid story of an imperfect, loving man as one little family fights for its life and its principles. I read it breathlessly to the last page, sometimes with tears in my eyes.” — Stephanie Cowel, author of Claude and Camille: a novel of Monet, American Book Winner

Click below to read more about how the story came to be:

The Story Behind the Story CUT FROM THE EARTH

Conflict: How I came to Write CUT FROM THE EARTH

Forthcoming releases:

The Tile Maker Series Book 2, and anthology When She Wakes: Women’s Stories of Kundalini Awakening.