Goan writing in Portuguese has had a long and chequered history and at present is all but unknown in the region that inspired it, and by the descendants of those who produced it.

This collection, originally published as a special edition of the reputed literary magazine Muse India, gathers translations of short stories, poems and extracts of novels and sets them alongside critical articles that aim to open up this body of writing for a contemporary Anglophone reader in Goa and further afield.

Though often (but not exclusively) produced from a position of social advantage, and predominantly by Catholics, this branch of Goan literature contains many viewpoints on the history, identity and society of a territory that, while colonised by Portugal for hundreds of years, has always negotiated its place in the world in a wider Indian context. In this house of writing there are indeed many mansions.

The novel is seen as a satire on Costa’s home town of Margão, and the Catholic bourgeoisie that lived there, narrated through the experiences of the eponymous couple.