Trapped in a love triangle between his childhood best friend and his friend's wife, Camilo, a young man in love, but skeptical, decides to consult a mysterious fortune teller...

In "A Visit from Alcibiades", Machado de Assis narrates the curious invocation of the famous Athenian, who appears in the author's office for a witty dialogue. Between ironies and...

In an ingenious narrative set in the East, a Portuguese traveler encounters a mysterious bonze—a local sage—who is the guardian of an ancient secret. Intrigued, he embarks on...

After the death of her husband, a widow decides to reveal the hidden truths of her marriage, including her secret relationship with Emílio, a lover who transformed her life. In a...

The short story "Bridal Song" tells the story of Romão Pires, a man obsessed with completing bridal song that he began shortly after his marriage. The unfinished work becomes a...

Friar Simão lives in silence and penance until his death, without ever revealing his past. Only after his death does a manuscript reveal the tragic story of a forbidden love,...

Nicolau B. grows up marked by a strange condition: an almost physical revulsion at any sign of superiority in others. He lives in constant discomfort, seeking only the company of...

In "The Mirror", Machado de Assis shows, through Jacobina's experience, that each person has two souls: one intimate and the other shaped by social perception. Upon losing the...

In this collection originally published in 1873, Machado de Assis presents us with six short stories that explore, with sharp irony and keen insight, the dilemmas of human nature,...

In an ironic and satirical tone, Machado de Assis presents a conversation between a father and son, in which the father advises the young man to become a "medallion" — a symbol...