This fourth volume in the Dedalus European Fantasy series offers a rich feast of bewitched houses, roads that lead nowhere, hanged men who descend from the scaffold in order to help the living, churches buried beneath the sea, and cannibalism. In addition to the well-known masters Eca de Queiroz and Mario de SaCarneiro, contributors include Jose Rodrigues Migueis, Domingo Monteiro, Failho de Almeida, Jose Regio, David Mourao-Ferreira, Alvaro do Carvalhal, Ferreira de Castro, and Almada Negreiros, most appearing for the first time in English translation.

This is the first of a two-volume selection of short fiction from Portugal, drawing on late-19th and 20th-century novellas and stories. The text concentrates on writing from before World War II. Included are: Eca de Queiros's "The Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman"; Antonio Patricio's "Suze"; Fernando Pessoa's "The Anarchist Banker"; Irene Lisboa's "The Lover"; and Jose Rodrigues Migueis's "Leah".