Description

Book Synopsis
In early eighteenth-century Lisbon, Baltasar, a soldier who has lost his left 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 women are burned at the stake, the two are bound body and soul by love of an unassailable strength. A third party shares their supper that evening: Padre Bartolomeu Lourenco, whose fantasy is to invent a flying machine. As the Crown and the Church clash, they purse his impossible, not to mention heretical, dream of flight.

Trade Review
A mighty novel, variously bawdy, elevated, angry and tender, combining erudition, comedy, heresy, surreal science fiction and countless good stories. -- Robert Farren * Sunday Independent *
Original and brilliant...Lovers of Marquez and magical realism will be enchanted by the wonders of this novel, for the colour and vivacity of Saramago's imagination inspires and entertains. -- Kate Figes * Sunday Times *
Jose Saramago affirms the simple truths as only a writer of rare stature can. -- Christopher Wordsworth * Guardian *

Baltasar & Blimunda

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    A Paperback / softback by José Saramago

    £9.49

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    RRP £9.99 – you save £0.50 (5%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Tue 15 Sep 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Vintage Publishing
      Published 20 September 2001
      ISBN-13 9781860469015
      978-1860469015
      ISBN-10 1860469019
      Also in:
      Fiction Contemporary Fiction Fantasy Romance Jose Saramago Books by Jose Saramago

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      In early eighteenth-century Lisbon, Baltasar, a soldier who has lost his left 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 women are burned at the stake, the two are bound body and soul by love of an unassailable strength. A third party shares their supper that evening: Padre Bartolomeu Lourenco, whose fantasy is to invent a flying machine. As the Crown and the Church clash, they purse his impossible, not to mention heretical, dream of flight.

      Trade Review
      A mighty novel, variously bawdy, elevated, angry and tender, combining erudition, comedy, heresy, surreal science fiction and countless good stories. -- Robert Farren * Sunday Independent *
      Original and brilliant...Lovers of Marquez and magical realism will be enchanted by the wonders of this novel, for the colour and vivacity of Saramago's imagination inspires and entertains. -- Kate Figes * Sunday Times *
      Jose Saramago affirms the simple truths as only a writer of rare stature can. -- Christopher Wordsworth * Guardian *

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