Jose Luis Peixoto – författare

Against a backdrop of rural Portuguese poverty, a handful of magical characters are living out their destiny: Jose, a shepherd, who is visited by a devil whispering violent words in his ear; Moises and Elias, Siamese twins joined at the tip of their little fingers; Gabriel, a wise man, who is over one hundred years old; and an unnamed character who sits writing alone in a windowless room. The characters are universal, and they are all at the mercy of fate - their lives are pulled in different directions and sometimes even suffocated and snuffed out.

Translated from the Portguese by Daniel HahnThe extraordinary story of two generations in a Lisbon family of carpenters and of a father's attempt to outrun his fate in the marathon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1908.‘A superb family saga' The Times‘Almost unbearably moving' Financial TimesThe Lázaro family are carpenters who would rather be piano-makers. In the dusty back room of their carpentry shop in Lisbon is the ‘piano cemetery', filled with broken-down pianos that provide the spare parts needed for repairing and rebuilding instruments all over the city.It is a mysterious and magical place, a place of solace, a dreaming place and, above all, a trysting place for lovers. Peixoto weaves the tragic true story of the marathon-runner, Francisco Lázaro, into a rich narrative of love, betrayal, domestic happiness and dashed hopes.