The Illustrious House of Ramires, presented here in a sparkling new translation by Margaret Jull Costa, is the favorite novel of many Eca de Queiros aficionados. This late masterpiece, wickedly funny and yet profoundly tender, centers on Goncalo Ramires, heir to a family so aristocratic that it predates even the kings of Portugal. Goncalo--charming but disastrously effete, idealistic but hopelessly weak--muddles through his pampered life, burdened by a grand ambition. He is determined to write a great historical novel based on the heroic deeds of his fierce medieval ancestors. But...