Skylight

The denizens of a rundown building in 1940s Lisbon come to sparkling life in this lost early novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author of Blindness. The renowned Portuguese author Jose Saramago was at the beginning of his career when he submitted his novel Skylight for publication in 1953. It then sat lost among stacks of manuscripts for thirty-six years. Published posthumously according to Saramago’s wishes, the world can finally enjoy this “fascinating and startlingly mature work” set in 1940’s Lisbon (Boston Globe). The inhabitants of a faded apartment building are struggling to make ends meet: Silvio the cobbler and his wife take in a disaffected young lodger; Dona Lídia, a retired prostitute, is kept by a businessman with a roving eye. Humble salesman Emilio’s Spanish wife is in a permanent rage; beautiful Claudinha’s boss lusts for her; Justina and her womanizer husband live at war with each other. Happy marriages, abusive relationships, jealousy, gossip, love—Skylight is a portrait of ordinary people painted by the master of the quotidian, a great observer of the immense beauty and profound hardship of the modern world. “There is no shortage of wonders to be found in [Skylight].” —Washington Post

Living temporarily in Venice, three American siblings uncover a mystery surrounding magical objects, an Arabian Nights book, and animals that can walk in and out of paintings.

This food-themed issue features recipes for grapefruit, appreciations of potato chips, guides to the diets of literary giants, contributions by Tunde Olaniran, Mar Hernandez, Chef Tamearra Dyson, Brian McMullen, Hein Koh, and more. "Illustoria" is the beloved print magazine for creative kids and their grownups. We celebrate visual storytelling, makers and DIY culture through stories, art, comics, interviews, crafts and activities.

Arlyn Singer believes in destiny and in love. But fate played a trick on her the night John Moody knocked on her door to ask for directions. Arlyn and John are complete opposites, but are drawn together like magnets even when it becomes clear that theyll bring each other nothing but grief.

A seductive maelstrom of a debut, largely inspired during eight years of eavesdropping in New Orleans.

Poetry from a writer celebrated as one of the most distinctive voices of her generation Among the thirty-five poems in Skylight are sonnets, sestinas, and free verse forms on topics ranging from politics to architecture and science. In one volume, Muske-Dukes, National Book Award finalist and former Poet Laureate of California, incorporates multitudes, unified by her lyrical style and rapier-sharp observations. The sonnet “Fireflies” explores a strained relationship that is healed, for one moment, in a nighttime walk lit by the pulsing signals of firefly life. “The Funeral” confronts the stark playground atmosphere in the wake of a child’s funeral. In the melancholy and unforgettable title poem, an “apartment in the sky” in New York City spins before the reader’s eyes.

Skylight premiered at the National Theatre in 1995 and then went on to become one of the most internationally successful plays of recent years. This is the definitive edition of Skylight.