Lucky in Love: (Um Amor Feliz) (From the Portuguese)
by David Mourão-Ferreira
Category: Fiction

Lisbon: some years on from the bloodless revolution of 1974. A sculptor in the prime of life has rediscovered love and reviews the many women that have shaped the man he is today. From his mother and household servants to his wife and his countless other sexual partners: he is trying to decide what the next step should be in his relationship with Y, his ethereal new love. On his journey, he discovers a language of 'womanlike words', and with these he conducts a love affair that leads ultimately to this tangible book. Lucky in Love can be seen as a modern rendition of the Roman myth of Janus, the god of doors, gateways; he was also believed to ensure happy endings, but in the case of this novel, the successful outcome of the narrator's two parallel love affairs is left tantalisingly to the reader's judgement and imagination.