One night in a provincial town the corpse of a young woman is found which is completely disfigured. The investigation on the murder of the young woman, who can later be identified, is, however, not the main theme of this unusual and disturbing novel. Her name is Eduarda. Around her four male figures revolve, all with a different relationship to her. So gradually an image of her forms, which is puzzle-like: the father, unable to show her his love, her lover, from whom she had a child and who finally murders her, her colleague at work who is secretly in love with her, and the forensic medical specialist who carries out the autopsy on the corpse. In the course of his work, which he masters to perfection, this man enters into a dialogue with death and tries to draw the last hidden secrets from the corpse. His actions have something religious about them.

An autopsy is like a birth. It cannot be repeated. What remains is the memory of Eduarda, a memory which, more so than life, is the opposite of death. This is My Body (“Este é o meu corpo”) exerts a strange fascination on the reader, and has been justifiably lauded by the critics.

‘Adultery’ means voluntary sexual relations between a married person and someone other than their spouse – and it is the main cause of divorce worldwide (in Portugal there are 89 marriages and 82 divorces per day). However, the history of adultery also includes great myths and stories enshrined in literature, religion, cinema, music and painting. From the Bible (Abraham betrays Sarah with Hagar) to Shakespeare’s plays, from medieval songs to Madame Bovary or The Maias, from the Roman Empire to the political intrigues of contemporary America, from the stories of our kings and queens to the scandals of Hollywood and pop culture, from Ulysses to Cousin Basílio, from the betrayals of the Greek gods to the lives of our neighbours – adultery is a decisive element in the sentimental history of humanity.

Sentimental Dictionary of Adultery (“Dicionário Sentimental do Adultério”) deals with betrayal and passion, temptation or sexual alchemy, the pleasure of risk and desire without order or law – but also with love. And with its fragile nature. This dictionary does not ‘moralise’ or ‘defend adultery’ – it is an erudite and entertaining guide to the history of adultery or passions and their scandals and transgressions.

The Last Seafarers (“Os últimos marinheiros”) portrays the world of the Portuguese people whose main source of livelihood is still seafaring. For most, their connection to the merchant navy is a family legacy, dating back two generations or even further. In the harsh solitude of cod fishing trawlers or in the relative comfort of more or less recent models of fishing or cargo ships, respect for the sea perpetuates its rules. Despite all the machinery, the profession of seafarer retains something intrepid and adventurous.

Portugal has 2,830 kilometres of coastline and is the third largest European Exclusive Economic Zone and the 11th largest in the world. Even so, there is not a single radio weather report that indicates the state of the sea. On board a commercial cargo ship and a trawler, Filipa Melo went to meet our last seafarers. Men and women who face the sea every day and do justice to our most mythical past, against all winds and tides.