Why a Booktrail?
2000s, 1100s: What would you do if you actually rewrite history?
The History of the Siege of Lisbon
What you need to know before your trail
When Raimundo Silva, a lowly proofreader for a Lisbon publishing house, inserts a negative into a sentence of a historical text, he alters the whole course of the 1147 Siege of Lisbon. Fearing censure he is met instead with admiration: Dr Maria Sara, his voluptuous new editor, encourages him to pen his own alternative history. As his retelling draws on all his imaginative powers, Silva finds – to his nervous delight – that if the facts of the past can be rewritten as a romance then so can the details of his own dusty bachelor present.
Travel Guide
Travel back to The Siege of Lisbon BookTrail style
The novel is really two stories in one: the reimagined history of the 1147 siege of Lisbon that Raimundo feels compelled to write and the story of Raimundo’s life, including his unexpected love affair with the editor, Maria Sara.
The Siege of Lisbon lasted from 1 July to 25 October, 1147, and was the military action that brought the city of Lisbon under definitive Portuguese control and expelled its Moorish overlords.
It was one of the few Christian victories of the Second Crusade. The Christians soon captured the walls of Lisbon itself. After four months, the Moorish rulers agreed to surrender (21 October).
The History Museum of Lisbon is a great place to find out more
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The History of the Siege of Lisbon
Destination: Lisbon Author/guide: José Saramago Departure Time: 2000s, 1100s
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