A tale of bourgeois sexual folly and hypocrisy in nineteenth-century Lisbon. Eca describes a gallery of vivid characters:

* Bazilio the suave villain

* Jorge the smug, uxorious husband

* Luiza the bored, silly wife

* Juliana, the plain, desperate maid

* Leopoldina, 'the Ever-Open Door'

* the voluminous Dona Felicidade, and many more.

The book aroused a scandal for its frank descriptions of sex and desire. What still grips the reader is the author's acute portrayal of the constraints imposed on men and, especially, women.