City of God

Blurb

City of God is a 1997 semi-autobiographical novel by Paulo Lins, about three young men and their lives in Cidade de Deus, a favela in Western Rio de Janeiro where Lins grew up. It is the only novel by Lins that has been published. It took Lins 10 years to complete the book. The novel was hailed by critics as one of the greatest works of contemporary Brazilian literature.
It was made into a feature film of the same name in 2002, which went on to be nominated for four Oscars. An English translation of the book was published in 2006. Thanks to the international recognition of the film the book continued to be translated into several more languages including Italian, French, Spanish and German.