Miguel Sousa Tavares - Equador

When Luís Bernardo was summoned to Vila Viçosa by King Carlos on that rainy December morning in 1905, he had no idea what the future held for him. He didn't know he would have to exchange his carefree life in Lisbon's cosmopolitan society for a mission as patriotic as it was risky on the distant island of São Tomé. He didn't expect that the position of governor and the defense of the dignity of the plantation workers would throw him into a web of conflicts and interests with the metropolis. And he didn't count on the discovery of love changing his life.
Equador is a brilliant portrait of Portuguese society in the final days of the Monarchy, drawing a parallel between the worldly evenings of the capital and the harsh, backward atmosphere of the colonies.
It was with this admirable, moving, and unsettling story that Miguel Sousa Tavares inaugurated his foray into the novel.