Heliopolis

The setting for this novel is 21st century São Paulo, a dual city defined by its massive skyscrapers and squalid favelas (shanty towns), personal helicopters overhead and horribly congested roads below, wealthy white and poor (mostly) black citizens, and its tightly packed center city surrounded by heavily guarded neighborhoods with European styled mansions and heliports for the country's elite.Ludo is a boy who was born to a single mother in a favela, where the only opportunities available to escape soul crushing poverty are in the illegal drug trade or prostitution.

I first heard about this book when I read that it was on the long list for Man Booker prize. I can see why it was nominated, since it was an excellent read.

Ludo was born in the slums of Sao Paulo, but is adopted into one of its wealthiest families, and falls in love with his step-sister. Heliopolis follows Ludo as he unravels the true story of his mother's life, while examining the huge gap between have and have-not in contemporary Brazil.