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The Cave
  • Published: 1 January 2004
  • ISBN: 9780099449157
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $35.00

The Cave

Formats & editions
EBook
30 Nov 2011
Paperback
1 Jan 2004
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By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 'a novel with impact. . . hope and charm' Independent

Cipriano Algor, an ageing potter, lives with his daughter and her husband in the shadow of the Centre, a nebulous, constantly expanding conglomerate that provides his livelihood – until it decrees that it is no longer interested in his humble wares. Together with his daughter, they craft a new line of small ceramic figurines and, to their bafflement, the Centre orders vast quantities. But once the figures are complete, the Centre recants: there is no market for them. Resigned to idleness Cipriano moves into the soulless megaplex, until late one night he comes across a horrifying secret in the bowels of the artificial city.
  • Published: 1 January 2004
  • ISBN: 9780099449157
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $35.00
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About the author

José Saramago

JOSÉ DE SOUSA SARAMAGO, (November 1922 - June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the theopoetic human factor. More than two million copies of Saramago's books have been sold in Portugal alone and his work has been translated into 25 languages. He was a founding member of the National Front for the Defense of Culture in Lisbon in 1992, and co-founder with Orhan Pamuk, of the European Writers' Parliament (EWP).
portrait photo of José Saramago

Also by José Saramago

Cain
The Elephant's Journey
Small Memories
The First Boat
An Unexpected Light
The Silence of Water
The Lizard
See all

Praise for The Cave

What distinguishes the book is the concern Saramago breathes over his characters; like potter's clay, they are patiently moulded into their best shape, retaining soft marks of memory

David Jays, Guardian

A quietly unsettling yet also charming tale. The atmosphere and story are pure Orwell, but Saramago's southern Europe rhythms and colour-soaked imagery link him even more firmly to a gritty yet dreamlike magic realism

Carson Howat, Scotsman

A novel with impact... hope and charm

Independent

Saramago surprises us by bringing hos characters into close focus with his wise insights on the complexity of human relationships and the psychology of close family ties

Time Out

There are certain writers who will deliver something special with each new book, and Jos- Saramago is one of them

Sunday Telegraph

Saramago resolves the story with the same charm that characterises the whole book...he advocates a simpler life based on family and 'the small miracles of love'. He does so with humility, but also with implacable conviction

Frank Egerton, The Times

Saramago can transform banal sentiments into unexpected profundities

David McAllister, TLS