21 books to read before travelling to Portugal

The High Mountains of Portugal - Yann Martel

In Lisbon in 1904, a young man named Tomás discovers an old journal. It hints at the existence of an extraordinary artifact that—if he can find it—would redefine history. Traveling in one of Europe’s earliest automobiles, he sets out in search of this strange treasure.

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Blindness - Jose saramago

A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses—and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit.

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Night Train to Lisbon Novel - Peter Bieri

This classic books turned into movie from Amadeu De Prado is a must read or watch.

Raimund Gregorius teaches classical languages at a Swiss lycée, and lives a life governed by routine. One day, a chance encounter with a Portuguese woman inspires him to question his life—and leads him to an extraordinary book that will open the possibility of changing it. Inspired by the words of Amadeu de Prado, a doctor whose intelligence and magnetism left a mark on everyone who met him and whose principles led him into a confrontation with Salazar’s dictatorship, Gergorius boards a train to Lisbon. As Gregorius becomes fascinated with unlocking the mystery of who Prado was, an extraordinary tale unfolds.

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The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon Novel - Richard Zimler

Just a few years earlier Jews living in Portugal were dragged to the baptismal font and forced to convert to Christianity Many of these New Christians persevered in their Jewish prayers and rituals in secret and at great risk the hidden arcane practices of the kabbalists a mystical sect of Jews continued as well One such secret Jew was Berekiah Zarco an intelligent young manuscript illuminator Inflamed by love and revenge he searches in the crucible of the raging pogrom for the killer of his beloved uncle Abraham a renowned kabbalist and manuscript illuminator discovered murdered in a hidden synagogue along with a young girl in dishabille Risking his life in streets seething with mayhem Berekiah tracks down answers among Christians New Christians Jews and the fellow kabbalists of his uncle whose secret language and codes by turns light and obscure the way to the truth he seeks A marvelous story a challenging mystery and a telling tale of the evils of intolerance The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon both compels and entertains

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The Maias Novel - Eça de Queirós

Carlos is the talented heir to a notable family in fin-de-siecle Lisbon. He aspires to serve his fellow man in his chosen profession of medicine, in the arts and in politics. But he enters a society affected by powerful international influences - French intellectual developments, English trading practices - that trouble and frustrate him and in the end he is reduced to a kind of spiritual helplessness. Carlos' good intentions decline, amiably, into dilettantism; his passionate love affair itself begins to suffer a devastating constraint. "The Maias" tells a compelling story of characters whose lives become as real and engrossing as any in Flaubert, Balzac or Dickens. This is his masterpiece, a novel of intellectual depth, historical compassion and great wit. Hailed as a masterpiece in the Paris of Flaubert, Balzac and Zola, this remains Eca's most popular novel.

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Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture Book - José Saramago

When José Saramago decided to write a book about Portugal, his only desire was that it be unlike all other books on the subject, and in this he has certainly succeeded. Recording the events and observations of a journey across the length and breadth of the country he loves dearly, Saramago brings Portugal to life as only a writer of his brilliance can. Forfeiting the usual sources such as tourist guides and road maps, he scours the country with the eyes and ears of an observer fascinated by the ancient myths and history of his people. Whether it be an inaccessible medieval fortress set on a cliff, a wayside chapel thick with cobwebs, or a grand mansion in the city, the extraordinary places of this land come alive.

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The Lisbon Labyrinth: A Jack Telford Short Read - David Ebsworth

Lisbon, 1974. Journalist Jack Telford must hunt down a killer, solve a deadly riddle, renew his acquaintance with an old flame, and survive Portugal’s revolution in this taut thriller with a life-and-death finale, which Jack may survive, but only at great cost....

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300 Days of Sun - Deborah Lawrenson

Combining the atmosphere of Jess Walter's Beautiful Ruins with the intriguing historical backstory of Christina Baker Kline’s Orphan Train, Deborah Lawrenson’s mesmerizing novel transports readers to a sunny Portuguese town with a shadowy past—where two women, decades apart, are drawn into a dark game of truth and lies that still haunts the shifting sea marshes.

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Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture - Jose Saramago -

The Nobel Prize-winning author offers information about the history, culture, landscape, and people of his native Portugal, in an enchanting volume written by combining aspects of a novel, guidebook, and travelogue. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

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The Crime of Father Amaro – Jose Maria Eca De Queiros

The Crime of Father Amaro is a lurid satire of clerical corruption in a town in Portugal (Leira) during the period before and after the 1871 Paris Commune. At the start, a priest physically explodes after a fish supper while guests at a birthday celebration are "wildly dancing a polka." Young Father Amaro (whose name means "bitter" in Portuguese) arrives in Leira and soon lusts after―and is lusted after by―budding Amelia, dewy-lipped, devout daughter of Sao Joaneira who has taken in Father Amaro as a lodger. What ensues is a secret love affair amidst a host of compelling minor characters: Canon Dias, glutton and Sao Joaneira's lover; Dona Maria da Assuncao, a wealthy widow with a roomful of religious images, agog at any hint of sex; Joao Eduardo, repressed atheist, free-thinker and suitor to Amelia; Father Brito, "the strongest and most stupid priest in the diocese;" the administrator of the municipal council who spies at a neighbor's wife through binoculars for hours every day. Eça's incisive critique flies like a shattering mirror, jabbing everything from the hypocrisy of a rich and powerful Church, to the provincialism of men and women in Portuguese society of the time, to the ineptness of politics or science as antidotes to the town's ills. What lurks within Eça's narrative is a religion of tolerance, wisdom, and equality nearly forgotten. Margaret Jull Costa has rendered an exquisite translation and provides an informative introduction to a story that truly spans all ages.

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Pereira Maintains - Antonio Tabucchi

In the sweltering summer of 1938 in Portugal, a country under the fascist shadow of Spain, a mysterious young man arrives at the doorstep of Dr Pereira. So begins an unlikely alliance that will result in a devastating act of rebellion. This is Pereira's testimony.
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Seeing - Jose Saramago

On election day in the capital, it is raining so hard that no one has bothered to come out to vote. The politicians are growing jittery. Should they reschedule the elections for another day? Around three o’clock, the rain finally stops. Promptly at four, voters rush to the polling stations, as if they had been ordered to appear. But when the ballots are counted, more than 70 percent are blank. The citizens are rebellious.

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A Small Death in Lisbon Novel - Robert Wilson

A sex slaying in modern-day Lisbon. A secret in 1941 Berlin. The shocking connection makes this the most talked-about thriller in years.

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Requiem: A Hallucination Novel - Antonio Tabucchi

A private meeting, chance encounters, and a mysterious tour of Lisbon, in this brilliant homage to Fernando Pessoa.

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Lisbon: What the Tourist Should See Book - Fernando Pessoa

In 1925, Fernando Pessoa wrote a travel guide to Lisbon for English-speaking visitors, and wrote it in English. The typescript was only discovered amongst his papers long after his death, but has not hitherto been made available in the UK or the USA. The book is fascinating in that it shows us Pessoa's view of his native city - and Pessoa, as an adult, rarely left Lisbon, and it figures large in his poetry. The book can still be useful to visitors today, given that the majority of the sights described are still to be found. A fascinating scrap from the master's table....

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The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis - José Saramago

The year is 1936, and the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar is establishing himself in Portugal, edging his country toward civil war. At the same time, Dr. Ricardo Reis has returned home to Lisbon after a long sojourn in Brazil. What’s brought him back is word that the great poet, Fernando Pessoa, has died. With no intention of resuming his practice, Reis now dabbles in his own poetry, wastes his days strolling the boulevards and back streets, engages in affairs with two different women—and is followed through each excursion by Pessoa’s ghost.

As a fascist revolution roils, and as Reis’s path intersects with three relative strangers—two living, one dead—Reis may finally discover the reality of his own chimerical existence.

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Escape to Lisbon - Bill Coulton

Lily is a widow and cancer survivor. More, she is a passionate, sensuous woman who despises the half-life of pristine Shaker Island where she is expected to be the “good widow”. She struggles between wanting to be loyal to her late husband and boomer children and desiring a new life without restrictions. She plans her escape under the guise of a two-week vacation and selects Lisbon, a place she knows nothing about, as her destination. There, she comes under the spell of Luis, who shows her it is possible to love again. While their relationship ends in tragedy, Lily discovers there are great rewards to be found in taking risks. Lily’s is “every woman’s story” as she overcomes her own self-imposed limitations and shares her adventures with warmth, keen insight, and good humor.

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A Small Death in Lisbon - Robert Wilson 

A sex slaying in modern-day Lisbon. A secret in 1941 Berlin. The shocking connection makes this the most talked-about thriller in years.

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Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire - Roger Crowley

As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. This title tells an epic tale of navigation, trade and technology, money and religious zealotry, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles and shipwrecks, endurance, courage and terrifying brutality.  Portugal and its age of discovery.

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The Portuguese: The Land and Its People - Marion Kaplan

Superficially familiar but still little-known, Portugal is undergoing a vibrant social and political transformation as it grows into a full-fledged, modern European state. Combining history, geography, cultural study, and travelogue, this engaging look at Portugal is a fascinating introduction to its rich, turbulent history and people. This newly revised edition contains practical travel advice, maps, photographs, and illustrations.

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The Anarchist Banker: and Other Portuguese Stories - by Eugénio Lisboa

This is the first of a two-volume selection of short fiction from Portugal, drawing on late-19th and 20th-century novellas and stories. The text concentrates on writing from before World War II. Included are: Eca de Queiros's The Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman; Antonio Patricio's Suze; Fernando Pessoa's The Anarchist Banker; Irene Lisboa's The Lover; and Jose Rodrigues Migueis's Leah.

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