num_pages: 714
description: Carlos is the grandson of Afonso da Maia, the last surviving member of one of Lisbon’s wealthiest and most illustrious families. Carlos is good, handsome, clever, eager to contribute something to society, and yet he appears, as he himself puts it, 'to be one of those weak hearts, soft and flaccid, incapable of preserving any true emotion'. Then, one day, walking along Lisbon's grubby streets he sees a woman who seems to him like a goddess who has just stepped down from the clouds. When he finally meets the beautiful Maria Eduarda, the attraction proves to be as mutual as it is profound. In the plenitude of that love, Carlos seems, in his best friend Ega's words, 'a truly fortunate being', until Fate steps in - in the form of a grizzled, left-wing newspaper hack from Paris - and everything unravels.
language: English
title: The Maias
titlecomplete: The Maias
characters: Craft, Rufino, Condessa de Gouvarinho, Alencar, Sousa Neto, João da Ega, Maria Monforte, Maria Eduarda, Afonso da Maia, Conde de Gouvarinho, Eusébiozinho, Steinbroken, Sr. Guimarães, Palma Cavalão, Cruges, Dâmaso Salcede, Carlos da Maia, Cohen, Tancredo
genres: Portugal, Portuguese Literature, Romance, Fiction, Literature, Historical Fiction, School, Classics, Novels, 19th Century
ratings_count: 23434
awards: awardedAt: 1199174400000
name: PEN Translation Prize
category: Margaret Jull Costa, awardedAt: 1199174400000
name: Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize
publisher: Dedalus