2025 Readings 61

 Rose Macauley's They Went to Portugal is exactly what the title would imply, a collection of stories about people who went to Portugal, although the "They" is restricted to English/British visitors. Macauley moved to Portugal early during World War II, and quickly became fascinated by earlier English folks who had made a similar journey. I picked it up at the Livraria Bertrand de Chiado (as is well documented by now, the world's oldest bookstore) on my trip to Portugal last month. Generally, I guess, I picked it up because of my love of Portugal, but, specifically, I bought it because I was thinking of my visit to Henry Fielding's grave at the English Cemetery the year before. I was pleasantly surprised by chapters on Thomas Stuckley and James Fitzmaurice, two adventurers who pop up in my dissertation. Some of the most arresting narratives relate, nor surprisingly, to English visitors to Lisbon during the 1755 earthquake. It won't change your life, but it's interesting, and it's definitely one of the books that will eventually make its way to Europe with us.