Skylight
By: Jose Saramago ; translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa
Contributors: Costa, Margaret Jull, translator
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 299
ISBN-13: 9780544090026; 9780544570375; 9780544084988
Subjects: Nineteen forties; Interpersonal relations; General; Fiction; FICTION
Work titles: Claraboia
Description: "A previously unpublished novel by a literary master, Skylight tells the intertwined stories of the residents of a faded apartment building in 1940s Lisbon. Silvestre and Mariana, a happily married elderly couple, take in a young nomad, Abel, and soon discover their many differences. Adriana loves Beethoven more than any man, but her budding sexuality brings new feelings to the surface. Carmen left Galicia to marry humble Emilio, but hates Lisbon and longs for her first love, Manolo. Lidia used to work the streets, but now she's kept by Paulo, a wealthy man with a wandering eye. These are just some of the characters in this early work, completed by Saramago in 1953 but never published until now. With his characteristic compassion, depth, and wit, Saramago shows us the quiet contentment of a happy family and the infectious poison of an unhappy one. We see his characters' most intimate moments as well as the casual encounters particular to neighbors living in close proximity. Skylight is a portrait of ordinary people, painted by a master of the quotidian, a great observer of the immense beauty and profound hardships of the modern world."--Publisher information.