7 h 53 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 53 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the happiness you chase becomes the very thing that traps you?
In Tales, Eça de Queirós brings a sharp, playful eye to love, greed and the promise of progress. In The Mandarin, Teodoro is a poor Lisbon clerk who dreams of a larger life and faces a magic bargain. In Civilization, wealthy Jacinto surrounds himself with devices, trusting machines and knowledge to bring the happiness he lacks.
José Matias turns to a gentle lover whose devotion to a woman he adores from afar grows into something stranger. Elsewhere, the humble friar Frei Genebro gives to anyone who asks, whatever the cost. These short stories move between city comforts and simple lives, testing desire, charity and faith with humour that can turn cruel.
What you’ll discover
- A bargain with wealth Follow Teodoro as the chance of sudden riches puts his conscience to the test.
- Progress without peace Enter Jacinto’s crowded home, where the newest devices offer no sure path to contentment.
- Devotion becomes obsession Meet José Matias, whose distant love reveals how desire can grow beyond ordinary happiness.
- Charity at a cost Encounter Frei Genebro’s generosity in a world that does not always reward goodness.
- Wit with a sting Enjoy clear, quick storytelling that punctures grand ideas with small, sharply comic details.
Who will love it
You will love it if you enjoy stories of love, ghosts, saints and sly comedy, if you like old Lisbon and ancient myth, and if you enjoy tales you can finish in one sitting.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A careful bookkeeper falls for a blond girl
- A poet in a waiter's coat suffers in London
- A model wife meets a charming cousin
- Too many gadgets can empty a life
- Two short tales of greed and of goodness
- Fear and need built the first human home
- Loyalty and faith are stronger than fear
- The love of an ideal can outweigh the person
- Gentle humor, myth and faith tie the tales together
Who’s who
- MacárioA careful Lisbon bookkeeper who falls for a blond girl with a Chinese fan and tells the story to a stranger.
- KorriscossoA Greek poet working as a London hotel waiter, who writes odes for a maid who cannot read Greek.
- Maria da PiedadeA village woman praised as a saint, who nurses an invalid husband and three sick children.
- JacintoA rich man with every machine of his century who cannot stop yawning, until he visits the mountains.
- D. Rui de CardenasA young knight in Segovia, devoted to Our Lady of the Pillar and in love with a married lady.
- José MatiasA blond, elegant Lisbon gentleman who adores his neighbor Elisa from afar for many years.
- OdysseusThe clever hero held on Calypso's island, who longs for storms, work and his mortal wife.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 53 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Erzählungen in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Erzählungen
by Eça de Queirós · 1902
A rich man drowns in gadgets, a hanged man climbs a ladder, and a goddess begs a hero to stay.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Why would a man with every gadget yawn all day? Why does a hero beg to leave a goddess's perfect island?
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A careful bookkeeper falls for a blond girl
Macário calls his case simple, yet he weeps as he tells it. The story begins in Lisbon, where he keeps the books for his uncle Francisco's cloth warehouse.
One July he notices a blond girl at a window across the street. She is Luísa, and she leans on a cushion with a white Chinese fan. She and her mother come to the warehouse to buy black cloth, and soon Macário is a guest in their home. When he asks to marry her, Uncle Francisco says no three times and sends him away. No firm will hire a clerk dismissed over a girl, so Macário sells his watch and coat and sails to Cape Verde.
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What is Tales by Eça de Queirós about?
It gathers short stories on love, greed, faith and modern life, set in Lisbon, London, medieval Spain, Paradise, ancient Greece and Galilee. Each tale mixes humor with a sharp look at what people want.
Which stories are in this collection?
It includes A Lyrical Poet, At the Mill, Civilization, The Treasure, Brother Genebro, Adam and Eve in Paradise, The Nurse, The Dead Man, José Matias, Perfection and The Gentle Miracle.
Who is Jacinto in Civilization?
Jacinto is a rich Portuguese man who owns every modern device and still yawns with boredom. His friend tells how a trip to his mountain estate at Torges tests the idea that more comfort brings more happiness.
The author
Eça de Queirós
1845–1900 · Portuguese novelist
Eça de Queirós was a Portuguese writer and diplomat, born in Póvoa de Varzim in 1845. He wrote The Crime of Father Amaro (1875), Cousin Bazilio (1878), and The Maias (1888). His diplomatic work took him to Cuba, Britain, and France. He died in Paris in 1900.
More by Eça de Queirós
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