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António Lobo Antunes
António Lobo Antunes is a Portuguese writer known for his powerful, often experimental novels. His work frequently explores themes of memory, war, and the human condition. Among his notable books is "The Inquisitors' Manual."
The Natural Order of Things
Synopsis
The Natural Order of Things is a tale of two families and the secrets that bind them. The voices of Antunes' characters -- an army officer being tortured in prison on charges of conspiracy; an elderly man, once a miner in Mozambique, now reduced to dreams of "flying underground"; a diabetic teenage girl and the middle-aged husband she despises; the officer's illegitimate sister, locked away to haunt the house like Bertha Rochester in Jane Eyre -- create a portrait of a disintegrating Portugal, a personal political history that attains the brilliance and surreality of Elias Canetti and Nikolai Gogol.
