Scheherazade, the daughter of the grand vizier, weaves tales to please the king and stay her own execution. Realising she will soon run out of stories to tell, she hatches a plan to escape the palace. Meanwhile, finch hunters offer a musical analogy for Portugal’s 21st-century woes.

Who would have thought austerity measures could trigger such an epic tale of tales? Gomes explores Portugal’s fractures with unmatched originality, sharpness and love—both to his country and to the act (and art) of storytelling. This is the last volume, but we certainly wish it would go on forever.