A Cidade e as Serras

On a cold and pessimistic winter morning in Paris, the cosmopolitan Jacinto decides to return to his native Tormes, a quiet village in the Portuguese mountains, accompanied by Zé Fernandes, the narrator-character of this story. A "fantastical novel," as Eça de Queiroz called it, *The City and the Mountains* portrays the contrasts between the excitement of city life and the genuine beauty of country life.