Cain (ARC)

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Tr a n s l a t e d f r o m t h e P o r t u g u e s e b y M a r g a r e t J u l l C o s ta

A No v el

ADVANCE READING COPY NOT FOR RESALE

Jo sé Saramago W I N N E R

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N O B E L

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The late Nobel laureate’s final novel, a radical retelling of the Old Testament In this, his last novel, José Saramago daringly reimagines the characters and narratives of the Bible through the story of Cain. Condemned to wander forever after he kills Abel, Cain is whisked around in time and space. He experiences the almost-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, the Tower of Babel, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Joshua at the battle of Jericho, Job’s ordeal, and finally Noah’s ark and the Flood. And over and over again Cain encounters an unjust, even cruel God. A startling, beautifully written, and powerful book, Cain is in all ways a fitting end to Saramago’s extraordinary career.

JOSÉ SARAMAGO (1922–2010) was the author of many novels, among them Blindness and The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

ALSO AVAILABLE: The Collected Novels of José Saramago 12 novels and a novella in one affordable e-book 978-0-547-58100-2 • $36.00

Cover design by Michaela Sullivan • Cover image © Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY • Author photograph © Pedro Soares

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>> Publication date: October 6, 2011