This is the first of a two-volume selection of short fiction from Portugal, drawing on late-19th and 20th-century novellas and stories. The text concentrates on writing from before World War II. Included are: Eca de Queiros's "The Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman"; Antonio Patricio's "Suze"; Fernando Pessoa's "The Anarchist Banker"; Irene Lisboa's "The Lover"; and Jose Rodrigues Migueis's "Leah".