The Queen's Reading Room

Pereira Maintains

By Antonio Tabucchi

Recommended By Philip Pullman

The story of a Portuguese journalist in the 1930s who leads a comfortable life, and who is certainly not involved, he thinks, in the rancid politics of the time. He finds that he is involved, and that the situation requires depths of bravery and resource that he’s never been called on to show before. A simple story in a short book, but with great themes including the vital importance of the written and printed word.
~ Philip Pullman

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Publish Date: 1994 Awards: 1994 Premio Campiello; 1994 Viareggio Prize; 1994 Premio Scanno

Set against the backdrop of António Salazar’s dictatorship, the book follows Pereira, a journalist struggling to come to terms with the rise of fascism, the death of his wife, and the child they never had. A chance encounter with a young man will upturn his solitary and acquiescent life, prompting an unexpected act of political rebellion.

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