Released just two months before his death in 1908,Memorial de Ayreswas Machado de Assis’s final novel. Written in the form of a diary, it follows the day-to-day happenings of a retired diplomat, Counselor Ayres, during the waning years of the Brazilian empire.

Ayres lives a simple life: The most eventful parts of his week are lunch with his sister or a visit to their family cemetery. But a new love interest pushes Ayres from the confines of his quiet routine and into the warm, welcoming home of the Aguiars, an older couple who never had children. The Aguiar household is a center of merriment, a necessary outlet for the reclusive Ayres–and where Brazil’s well-to-do ponder the momentous changes afoot.

Marked by Machado’s sly humor and psychological subtlety–and set in a singularly transformative moment in Brazil’s history–Memorial de Ayresis a quietly prescient tale of personal and national legacy.

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis(1839-1908) was born in Rio de Janeiro and is the groundbreaking author of such works asDom CasmurroandThe Posthumous Memoirs of Brs Cubas.Margaret Jull CostaandRobin Pattersonhave translated the work of Lcio Cardoso, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, and Clarice Lispector, among others. They live in England.Robin Pattersonhas translated Jos Luandino Vieira and lives in England.

• Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
• Publish Date: August 04, 2026
• Page: 256
• Language: English
• Type: Hardback
• EAN/UPC: 9781324096795
• Dimensions: 8.3 in H | 5.5 in W | 1 lb
• BISAC Categories: Literary Fiction, Popular Fiction