And How Have You Been? (Paperback or Softback)

A definitive collection of all the late stories of the Portuguese master of the short form, Maria Judite de Carvalho, translated into English for the first time by Margaret Jull Costa. In her usual, incisive prose, Carvalho returns to what really threatens us, not the sea or witchcraft or a lion with watchful eyes, but people and time. She has visions of an empty future of machines and no more art, a vision that looks more and more prophetic. And she tangles with aging, all the regrets over things people wanted but her characters weren’t capable of, or didn’t want to, give.

And How Have You Been? reckons with what it means to be human over a lifetime, the small triumphs that recede into the mist of memory, the losses that stay razor-sharp. And always, Carvalho writes with unexpected candor and without apologies.

Maria Judite de Carvalho (1921-1998) published nine collections of short stories, a novella, and two collections of crónicas over her lifetime. She spent her career in journalism, working as an editor and columnist, she was also known for her French translations and paintings. Widely celebrated in Portugal, Two Lines Press is the first to make her books available in English.

Margaret Jull Costa has worked as a translator for over thirty years, translating the works of many Spanish and Portuguese writers, among them novelists: Javier Marías, José Saramago, Eça de Queiroz, and Teolinda Gersão, and poets: Fernando Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, and Ana Luísa Amaral. Her work has brought her many prizes, most recently the Premio Valle-Inclán for On the Edge by Rafael Chirbes.