The Symbol: Awakening follows a fierce prosecutor dedicated to combating violence against women who, along with her allies, fights to dismantle systemic oppression and bring justice to survivors. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The Symbol: Awakening was born from real-life pain. As a Brazilian attorney, I worked for years supporting women who survived gender-based violence. I carried their stories with me, their silenced voices, their broken systems, and their quiet resilience. Eventually, those truths demanded a fictional home. The futuristic Council is a metaphor for the institutions that failed them. Louise is a mirror: she’s a prosecutor trying to do the right thing in a world that punishes those who dare to speak.

It’s not just a dystopia. It’s a cry for justice.

What were some of the trials that you felt were important to highlight Louise’s development and shape her into the woman she is now?

Louise’s development is rooted in trauma and contradiction. I wanted to show a woman who fights for justice but is also broken by the system she serves.

She loses her mother to domestic violence. She carries a symbol of resistance (the button) since childhood. She trusts the law, then watches it collapse under silence and control. Her most important trials are emotional: learning to trust again, to remember who she is, and to embrace her voice even if it puts her in danger.

Her strength is not in being fearless. It’s in being terrified and still choosing to act.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

There are many layers, but five themes are central:

• Systemic violence against women

• Institutional silence and complicity

• The cost of remembering (trauma)

• The complexity of justice

• Hope as resistance

The book also explores power through language, memory, and surveillance. Who gets to tell the truth? Who gets believed? What happens when silence becomes law?

I wanted to write about pain, but more than that, about transformation through pain.

Where does the story go in the next book, and where do you see it going in the future?

In Book II, Louise will no longer work within the system; she will rise against it. She becomes the public voice of a growing rebellion, but that comes with consequences. Enemies will rise from both sides. The movement she inspired begins to fracture.

The second book is about navigating power without becoming what you fought against.

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