Avenida Brasil - Carminha

HOME - Rita's childhood

Carminha is a humble, ambitious, and wicked woman who marries Genésio, a kind widower and father of Rita, a 12-year-old girl. Carminha only wants his money and is having an affair with Max, a layabout.

Genésio discovers everything, and Carminha convinces him to leave. In a moment of desperation, he runs into the street and is hit by a car on Avenida Brasil by Tifón, a famous, rich, and kind-hearted former soccer player. Tifón feels guilty and thus meets Carminha, who is pretending to be the grieving widow.

To keep everything for themselves, Carminha and Max get rid of Rita: they take her to a garbage dump. There, Rita meets Mother Lucinda, who cares for the children at the dump, and Patata, her best friend. The two suffer greatly at the hands of Nilo, an exploiter.

Rita is adopted by a wealthy Argentinian family, the García Hernández family, who take her to live in Argentina and change her name to Nina . Patata is adopted by Carminha and Tifón, who have already married for convenience. Now Patata is called Jorgito and becomes a soccer player like Tifón.

12 YEARS LATER - The Revenge

Nina/Rita becomes a professional chef in Argentina and returns to Brazil with one goal: to get revenge on Carminha.

She infiltrates Typhon's mansion, now a sprawling house in the Divino neighborhood, posing as a cook. Carminha is now the rich and powerful lady of the neighborhood, hated and feared by all, but no one knows who she really is.

Nina's plan is to make Carminha lose everything, just as she did. To achieve this, she allies herself with Max, who is now Tifón's son-in-law because he is married to Ivana, Tifón's sister, and is still Carminha's lover.

What Nina didn't expect: Jorgito is Carminha's son and her childhood sweetheart. They meet again and fall in love. Jorgito is dating Débora, but he loves Nina. This complicates the whole plan.

CARMINHA - The Origin

Carminha wasn't born bad, she was born poor. Her name is Carmen Lucia. As a child, she lived in misery, in the garbage dump, with Mother Lucinda. There she learned that if you don't manipulate, you don't survive.

As a young woman, she was beautiful and ambitious. Her sole objective was to escape poverty at any cost. That's why she didn't hesitate to use men.

1. With Genésio and Rita
   She marries Genésio, Rita's father, a good man but without much money. She does it only to have a roof over her head. She has a lover, Max, a lazy thief.

When Genésio discovers them, he lets him go penniless. He is run over and killed by Tifón on Avenida Brasil. Carminha sees the perfect opportunity: Tifón is a former soccer player, a millionaire, guilty, and a kind widower. She seduces him by playing the grieving widow.

To get rid of Rita, who hates her and knows who she is, she dumps the girl in the garbage dump with Max's help. She tells everyone the little girl ran away.

2. As a wealthy lady of the Divine
   She marries Typhoon and becomes the queen of the Divino neighborhood. She has everything: a mansion, maids, money, and an adopted son who is Jorgito (Potato), Rita's best friend from the garbage dump.

But it remains the same:

• She remained Max's lover all those 12 years.
• He mistreats everyone, especially Nina when she arrives as a cook.
• He steals money from Typhoon to give it to Max.
• She is cruel, racist, and classist towards people from the neighborhood, but she pretends to be a saint in front of Typhon.

3. The war with Nina
   When she discovers that Nina is Rita, her worst phase begins. It's no longer just about being malicious for money; it's personal hatred.

He tries to kill Nina several times. Max betrays her and buries her alive in the garbage dump—the same garbage she came from. It's the most powerful scene in the novel.