From the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, a
"brilliant...enchanting novel" (New York Times Book
Review) of romance, deceit, religion, and magic set in
eighteenth-century Portugal at the height of the Inquisition.
National bestseller. Translated by Giovanni Pontiero.
"A mighty novel, variously bawdy, elevated, angry and tender, combining erudition, comedy, heresy, surreal science fiction and countless good stories." -- Robert Farren Sunday Independent "Original and brilliant...Lovers of Marquez and magical realism will be enchanted by the wonders of this novel, for the colour and vivacity of Saramago's imagination inspires and entertains." -- Kate Figes Sunday Times "Jose Saramago affirms the simple truths as only a writer of rare stature can." -- Christopher Wordsworth Guardian
Jose Saramago was born in Portugal in 1922. His oeuvre embraces plays. poetry, memoirs and several novels which have been translated into more than 20 languages. It was the publication of Baltasar & Blimunda in 1988 that first brought him to the attention of an English-speaking readership. This novel won the Portuguese PEN Club Award, as did his next, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis , which also won the Independent Foreign Fiction Award. His fiction has established him as one of Europe's most influential living writers. Jose Saramago was awarded the Novel Prize for Literature in 1998.
