Camilo Castelo Branco - Mistérios de Fafe

Mistérios de Fafe was published in 1868, first in serials in the Jornal do Comércio and soon after in its first edition as a book, with a second edition in 1877 and a third edition in 1881, indicating a good reception from the public and critics.

Favoring a story woven with captivating Balzacian and realistic naturalness, Mistérios de Fafe, without hiding some connection to the genre of the serial novel, goes straight into the story of a contemporary story (with time frames anchored between 1838 and 1868, to be precise).

Camilo uses a lively and captivating style, with a vocation much more narrative than descriptive, as befits a story with remarkable verisimilitude. The story follows the considerable social transformations of that time, ranging from the celebration of the liberal heroes of Mindelo, through the sentimental excesses of ultra-romanticism, to the practice of new marriages with noble Brazilians, in the Portugal of the Regeneration.