Skylight - Hardcover

Saramago, Jose

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184655733X ISBN 13: 9781846557330

Publisher: Harvill Secker, 2014

Synopsis

Called ‘the book lost and found in time’ by its author, Skylight is one of Saramago’s earliest novels. The manuscript was lost in the publishers’ offices in Lisbon for decades, and is only now being published in English.

Lisbon, late-1940s. The inhabitants of an old apartment block are struggling to make ends meet. There’s the elderly shoemaker and his wife who take in a solitary young lodger; the woman who sells herself for money, clothes and jewellery; the cultivated family come down in the world, who live only for each other and for music; and the beautiful typist whose boss can’t keep his eyes off her. Poisonous relationships, happy marriages, jealousy, gossip and love – Skylight brings together all the joys and grief of ordinary people.

About this title

Review:

"A fluid and imaginative translation by Margaret Jull Costa... A masterly creation: pessimistic without being bleak, lyrical without being sentimental... Saramago tears back that curtain to reveal not only the stage on which life is performed but also backstage, under unflattering working lights; to show humanity at its most anxious, its most vulnerable and most true" (James Runcie Independent)

"For admirers of his work...the rescue of this novel from oblivion is something to be grateful for. The translator, Margaret Jull Costa, as ever, does a splendid job" (Times Literary Supplement)

"Not only does it illuminate the slow development of a radically original artist, but it is an interesting novel in its own right" (Ursula Le Guin The Guardian)

"This is one of Saramago’s early works but his eye for psychological nuance and his gift for sympathy are already in evidence" (New Statesman)

"Skylight is a deeply affecting novel, the work of an already adroit writer who marshals his characters with assurance" (Evening Standard)

Book Description:

In 1953, José Saramago submitted a novel to his publishers. Thirty-six years later, he heard back.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvill Secker
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 184655733X
• ISBN 13: 9781846557330
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320