Tomas

Tomas is the central character and protagonist in the first part of the book, titled Homeless, and is an archivist and researcher in Portugal in the early 1900’s. As his story begins, he is deep in grief over the recent deaths of the woman he loved (Dora), their child (Gaspar), and his father (Silvestro). He is portrayed as dealing with his grief in two ways: by walking everywhere backwards (as what he defines an “objection” to everything that has happened to him), and by taking himself on a pilgrimage, or journey, in search of a religious artifact created by a missionary whose diary Tomas has become obsessed with.

The story’s title relates to Tomas’ experience of being without a home; for him, home was where he was able to spend time with his beloved and his son, and now with them both gone, he feels as though...