Sao Paulo, Dec 14: Just two months ago, Raquel Pacheco was making a living as a call girl, turning tricks with up
to five men a day in an apartment in a swank neighbourhood of Sao
Paulo, Latin America's financial hub.
Back then she went by her Nom De Guerre, Bruna Surfistinha, or
Bruna the surfer girl. She has since left the business and become a
best-selling author who spends her days rushing to interviews,
promoting her book on the radio and appearing on late-night TV talk
shows.
Her book, ''The sweet venom of the scorpion: The diary of a call
girl,'' is a vivid account of the three years that the 21-year-old
Pacheco spent selling her body for money. Written in the slang of a
middle-class teenager from Sao Paulo, it is part diary, part blog
and even offers how-to tips for readers looking to spice up their
sex lives.
In just over a month, it has sold some 30,000 copies and is
already in its third edition -- a huge success in a country where
only a fraction of the population reads books. It also ranks third
on Brazil's bestseller list for nonfiction books, neck-and-neck with
international hits like ''Freakonomics'' by Steven D Levitt and
Stephen J Dubner.
Though Brazil is the world's largest Roman Catholic country, sex
is far from a taboo subject. Brazilians of all social classes
frequently flaunt their sexuality, donning skimpy clothing even in
formal settings. X-rated magazines hang in plain sight at
newsstands. The government distributes free condoms as part of its
aids prevention program. And prostitution is legal, although pimping
is not.
Still, the book's success was a surprise to Pacheco, who turned
to prostitution after running away from home when she was 17 and now
lives with her boyfriend, a former customer.
''I thought people would be curious, not necessarily about my
life, but about the life of a call girl,'' she said. ''But I didn't
think the reaction would be like this. I never thought I would be
famous.''
In truth, Pacheco was already flirting with fame before her book.
Lonely and eager to vent, she started writing about her experiences
with customers in a blog that became so popular it was profiled in
several Brazilian magazines. These days the site rarely focuses on
sexual escapades, but it still gets about 20,000 hits a day.
It was the blog that drew publishers to Pacheco, who had boasted
on the site that she was writing a book. She rejected three offers
to put her story in print before finally signing with a small
publishing house called panda books, which hired a journalist to
help her organize her ideas into a book.
Bureau Report
