Baltasar and Blimunda
A soldier home from the Spanish Succession war with one hand gone takes up with a young woman who can see inside bodies, and the two are drawn into a priest's scheme to build a flying machine driven by collected human wills. Around them thousands of conscripted labourers haul stone to the convent a king vowed in exchange for an heir. Saramago's breakthrough set his unpunctuated voice against Portugal's official eighteenth century.
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Closest analogues
- 52% · 11 shared
- 51% · 10 shared
- 49% · 9 shared
- 47% · 9 shared
- 45% · 9 shared
- 45% · 9 shared