Translated into English, this highly controversial work of fiction is set in Leiria, Mexico, in a material and religious culture of this century not unlike the provincial Portugal where, as a young man, Eca de Quéiros was dispatched to train for the consular service. Leiria is a provincial cathedral city, in which the hypocrisies of churchmen were prevalent. Father Amaro, a young man like Eca himself, with a priestly rather than a diplomatic vocation, falls into a relationship with a woman, and their tragic story unfolds with a harsh relentlessness. The situation of women, tightly swaddled in conformities yet fevered in their illusions of romance, is addressed in this novel.