Description

What if, one day, Europe was to crack along the length of the Pyrenees, separating Spain and Portugal from the rest of Europe?

In Saramago’s fable, a new island is sent spinning through the ocean like a great stone raft. While the authorities panic and tourists flee, three men, two women and a dog are drawn together by omens that burden them with a peculiar responsibility. In this magical realist tale, the six take to the road, finding themselves adrift in a world now unfamiliar and forced to reckon with their relationships, human psychology and the shakiness of belief itself.

Publisher Review

An irresistible blend of shrewd detail and lyrical fantasy... A seductive novel that needs to be savoured -- Helen Dunmore * Observer * An invitation to one of the richest bodies of work by a living writer -- Amanda Hopkinson * New Statesman * Jose Saramago's brilliant evocation...is magical realism of a sort that stirs real wonder -- James Park * Time Out * Saramago's lovely and original questing story, in a lineage of others such as Don Quixote and Kipling's Kim, is a journey of the spirit told as a journey of the feet -- Richard Eder * Los Angeles Times * Tremendous wit is always apparent in his imaginative conceits, comic digression and verbal and narrative games -- Ian Critchley * Sunday Times *