Skylight

';The inklings of Saramago's style swell throughout . . . Skylight shines.' New York Times ';Unmistakably Saramago . . . There is no shortage of wonders to be found in [Skylight].' Washington Post ';A fascinating and startlingly mature work . . . The book is a gem.' Boston Globe Lisbon, late 1940s. The inhabitants of a faded apartment building are struggling to make ends meet: Silvio the cobbler and his wife take in a disaffected young lodger; Dona Ldia, a retired prostitute, is kept by a businessman with a roving eye. Humble salesman Emilio's Spanish wife is in a permanent rage; beautiful Claudinha's boss lusts for her; Justina and her womanizer husband live at war with each other. Happy marriages, abusive relationships, jealousy, gossip, loveSkylightis a portrait of ordinary people painted by the master of the quotidian, a great observer of the immense beauty and profound hardship of the modern world. ';The gifted young Saramago makes these characters click together in a way thats extremely sympathetic.' NPR,All Things Considered ';It was only a matter of time before a work of such extraordinary honesty and perception would make its way into the world.' San Francisco Chronicle