**"[The Cave] is yet another triumph . . . for Portugal's, or even
the world's, greatest novelist. Read it." -- Washington Post
A genuinely brilliant novel." -- Chicago Tribune
**
Cipriano Algor, an elderly potter, lives with his daughter Marta and her
husband Marçal in a small village on the outskirts of The Center, an
imposing complex of shops and apartments to which Cipriano delivers his
wares. One day, he is told not to make any more deliveries. Unwilling to
give up his craft, Cipriano tries his hand at making ceramic dolls.
Astonishingly, The Center places an order for hundreds. But just as
suddenly, the order is canceled and the penniless three have to move
from the village into The Center. When mysterious sounds of digging
emerge from beneath their new apartment, Cipriano and Marçal
investigate; what they find transforms the family's life. Filled with
the depth, humor, and extraordinary philosophical richness that marks
all of Saramago's novels, The Cave is one of the essential books of
our time.