It was with The Woman Who Escaped from Sodom that José Geraldo Vieira established himself in the Brazilian literary scene as one of its most notable writers. The novel was written in 1924, over three days and nights of Carnival, but it was only published in 1931. The author explains that this delay was due to his fear that the public might consider the novel autobiographical, and thus he decided to keep it in a drawer for a long seven years.

The Woman Who Escaped from Sodom was very well received by Brazilian critics and was even awarded by the Academia Brasileira de Letras (Brazilian Academy of Letters) the year following its publication. Later, in 1947, it would be translated into Spanish. The engaging and dramatic plot, as well as the universality and boldness of the major themes it addresses, consistent elements in José Geraldo’s work, led the country’s leading critics to declare,“This is a pivotal novel. The future renewal of the art of the novel in Brazil will start from this book—or else nothing will be renewed.”

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