This scene was repeated month after month Maria, who hated studying and whose only other distraction in life was television, began to wish that the days would pass quickly she waited eagerly for each journey to school and, unlike other girls her age, she found the weekends deadly dull. They never exchanged a single word, but gradually Maria became aware that, for her, the best part of the day were those moments spent going to school: moments of dust, thirst and weariness, with the sun beating down, the boy walking fast, and with her trying her hardest to keep up. On the first day of term, she discovered that she was not alone on her way to school: making the same journey was a boy who lived in her neighborhood and who shared the same timetable. She fell in love for the first time when she was eleven, en route from her house to school.

While she was waiting for her Prince Charming to appear, all she could do was dream. Her father was a travelling salesman, her mother a seamstress, and her hometown, in the interior of Brazil, had only one cinema, one nightclub and one bank, which was why Maria was always hoping that one day, without warning, her Prince Charming would arrive, sweep her off her feet and take her away with him so that they could conquer the world together. Like all prostitutes, she was born both innocent and a virgin, and, as an adolescent, she dreamed of meeting the man of her life (rich, handsome, intelligent), of getting married (in a wedding dress), having two children (who would grow up to be famous) and living in a lovely house (with a sea view). Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria. How can I start a book with this apparent contradiction? But since, at every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss, let's keep that beginning. 'Once upon a time' is how all the best children's stories begin and 'prostitute' is a word for adults.

Eleven minutes novel