Jacinto, an absentee noble from Portugal, revels in joyous extreme in the latest of French sophistications. Circumstances compel his return to his family estates where he rediscovers the values and pleasures of Portuguese traditional life, but there are doubts about this perfection he finds.

Returning from Brazil, Bazilio tells his cousin Louisa of the brave new world. His revelation leads to a evastating conclusion. "O Primo Bazilio has a far deeper tragedy than Madame Bovary" wrote Roy Campbell, "because the girl involved is . . . a most loveable character. One of the most tragic novels of the nineteenth century."

The Relic is an irreverent fictional autobiography narrating the picaresque adventures of Teodorico, a Portuguese playboy determined to be the sole heir of his absurdly pious, sexually repressed, and tyrannical Auntie. Sent to the Holy Land, he returns with what he presumes is the "relic of relics" in hopes of persuading Auntie to bequeath her vast fortune to him. While in Jerusalem, Teodorico has a vision in which he witnesses Christ's trial and crucifixion and the founding of Christianity--with a twist.