Raised from the Ground: Jose Saramago

This deeply personal work, follows the changing fortunes of the Mau-Tempo family – poor, landless peasants not unlike the author’s own grandparents. Saramago charts the lives of the family in Alentjo, southern Portugal, as national and international events rumble on in the background – the coming of the republic in Portugal, the First and Second World Wars, and an attempt on the dictator Salazar`s life. Yet, nothing seriously impinges on the farm labourers` lives until the first stirrings of communism.