Mr Saito's Travelling Cinema

About restless tango shoes, life's dalliances, and love in all its forms

When someone leaves a shoebox containing a baby on the doorstep of a Buenos Aires convent, the nuns name the little girl Fabiola. The rebellious Fabiola soon reveals a special talent—she can find the perfect pair of shoes for anyone. She becomes the best shoe salesperson in the city and also—to the nuns' horror—the mother of Lita, a girl as headstrong as herself.

Revolutionary times force mother and daughter to flee Argentina, but their dream of Europe soon fades, and they find themselves on a small, windy island near Canada, moving into a seamen's lodging called Bethlehem. This beating heart of the island is home to many eccentric characters, including their host's deaf daughter, Oona, who becomes Lita's best friend. As Lita tries to navigate her new surroundings, her destiny is completely changed by the annual visits of Mr Saito's travelling cinema, which brings moving pictures from all over the world to the isolated island.

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Annette Bjergfeldt probably couldn't have experienced everything the heroes of her novel go through, but her narrative feels incredibly believable, like a life truly lived. And as a reader, you are immersed in it from the first word to the very last splash of a sentence.
— Politiken

The linguistic puns and quirky characters are both crazy and brilliant in Annette Bjergfeldt's imaginative love story.
— Litteratursiden