Called the book lost and found in time by its author,Skylightis one of Saramagos earliest novels. The manuscript was lost in the publishers offices in Lisbon for decades, and is only now being published in English.

Lisbon, late-1940s. The inhabitants of an old apartment block are struggling to make ends meet. Theres the elderly shoemaker and his wife who take in a solitary young lodger; the woman who sells herself for money, clothes and jewellery; the cultivated family come down in the world, who live only for each other and for music; and the beautiful typist whose boss cant keep his eyes off her. Poisonous relationships, happy marriages, jealousy, gossip and love Skylightbrings together all the joys and grief of ordinary people.

José Saramagois one of the most important international writers of thelast hundred years. Born in Portugal in 1922, he was in his sixties when he came to prominence as a writer with the publication ofBaltasar and Blimunda. A huge body of work followed, translated into more than forty languages, and in 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Saramago died in June 2010.

In 1953, José Saramago submitted a novel to his publishers. Thirty-six years later, he heard back.>