Our hero Carlos Maia, heir to one of the greatest fortunes in Portugal, is rich, handsome, generous and intelligent: he means to do something for his country, something useful, something that will make his beloved grandfather proud. However, Carlos is also a bit of a dilettante. He drifts along, becoming a doctor and pottering about in his laboratory, but spends more and more time riding his splendid horses or visiting the theater, having affairs or reading novels. His best friend and chief partner in crime, Ega, is likewise engaged in a long summertime of witticisms and pleasure. Carlos however is set on a dead reckoning course with fate-with the love of his life and with a terrible, terrible secret...

Newly translated by the acclaimed translator Margaret Jull Costa (translator of Jose Saramago's Blindness), New Directions is proud to bring Eca de Queiros' brilliant prose to life for American readers for the first time.

About the Author
One of the leading intellectuals of the "Generation of 1870," Jose Maria de Eca de Queiros (1845-1900) wrote twenty books, founded literary reviews, and for most of his life also worked as a diplomat, in Havana, London, and Paris. Margaret Jull Costa, who has translated Javier Marias and Jose Saramago, lives in England.

Reviews
"The Maias is a very satisfying juxtaposition of the beautiful, lyrical landscape and the vile actions of the family." -- Edmund White



Book Information
ISBN 9780811216494
Author Jose Maria de Eca de Queiros
Format Paperback
Page Count 596
Imprint New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publisher New Directions Publishing Corporation
Weight(grams) 709g
Dimensions(mm) 231mm * 155mm * 38mm