The Crime of Father Amaro (Pocket Edition)

A major landmark of Realism in Portugal, originally published in 1875, this is Eça de Queirós' most controversial work.

In The Crime of Father Amaro , the author adopts a dispassionate perspective to narrate the story of the unfortunate Amélia, seduced by the unscrupulous Amaro, who enters the convent at the behest of a pious noblewoman. Without any vocation, the priest passively accepts his fate, showing absolute disinterest in the profession he halfheartedly embraces, and ends up sinning against chastity, betraying the vows he took at his ordination. Amélia, raised in a fervently Catholic environment, becomes accustomed to living in a hypocritical environment. Her attraction to the priest, a pure carnal passion that disorients and destroys her, stems from a lack of moral references and a complete lack of understanding of what love is.

In The Crime of Father Amaro , the bourgeoisie, the aristocrats, the politicians, and the priests are the various components of a decadent and perverse social system. Human beings are not individuals, but rather temperaments dominated by instinct and the social environment, which determine their behavior.

Upon its publication in 1875, this work was met with protests from the Catholic Church in Portugal. Critics, in turn, received the book enthusiastically. With irreverence and sarcasm, Eça de Queirós attempts to reclaim the values that a declining society had lost.