This is the first of a two-volume selection of short fiction from Portugal, drawing on late-19th and 20th-century novellas and stories. The text concentrates on writing from before World War II. Included are: Eca de Queiros's The Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman, Antonio Patricio's Suze, Fernando Pessoa's The Anarchist Banker, Irene Lisboa's The Lover, and Jose Rodrigues Migueis's Leah.