Baltasar and Blimunda

Their meeting happened during the execution of Blimunda’s mother at the stake. Blimunda has the gift of seeing through people and objects, and Baltazar is a former soldier with a hook instead of his left hand. Together they build a flying machine, dreaming of taking off when the sun, the ether, and the will of a thousand people merge. But by making this heavenly flight, they risk losing themselves.
This novel by Nobel laureate José Saramago combines magical realism and the everyday life of 18th-century Portugal, reminding the reader of works by Garcia Marquez and Umberto Eco.