José Saramago

When King and Church exercise absolute power what happens to the dreams of ordinary people? In early eighteenth century Lisbon, Baltasar, a soldier who has lost a hand in battle, falls in love with Blimunda, a young girl with visionary powers. From the day that he follows her home from the auto-da-fe where her mother …

Cain is the final novel by Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago; it was first published in 2009. The novel is told through the eyes of Cain as he witnesses passages from the Bible that add to his increasing hatred of God.

Portugal is a small country with a great past. Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India turned the independent kingdom of Portugal into the leading sea and colonial power in the Western world. Lisbon, presumably founded by the Phoenicians, was one of Europe's richest cities in the heyday of the Age of …