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 <i>Don Quixote </i>and Kipling's <i>Kim</i>, 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
An engaging fantasy...this book can't be pinned down however, either as magic realism, Swiftian satire, or dystopian science fiction: in fact its concerns are largely philosophical... Pontiero's excellent translation preserves the strange, looping rhythms of Jose Saramago's prose, as well as his likeably self-referential humour and, most important of all, the sense of a deep and luminous intelligence which informs the whole enterprise
- Jonathan Coe, Mail on Sunday
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.
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.