THE UNSTOPPABLES / The contender

Nara Marino

The crown is a beginning.

Nara is nineteen, with a seamstress to pay, a family behind her and a place in the festival pageant still to earn. She has learned to walk as though the ground belongs to her, even when she doubts it.

With Maria’s exacting guidance, she prepares for a role that demands far more than a dress and a smile. Her roots are part of what she brings to the stage, not something to leave behind.

Meeting a rider called Cauã opens another door. But Nara has ambitions of her own, and choosing someone does not mean disappearing into his story.