Portugal

The European country of Portugal is the book's primary broad-strokes setting. All three of its parts take place within its borders.

The High Mountains

This fictionalized geographical plain is a primary setting for two of the book's three parts (Part 1 and Part 3), and a peripheral setting in its second part. Ironically, the High Mountains are, in fact, a broad plain studded with oddly shaped boulders, small mountains that may themselves be the ironically named "High Mountains." The plain can be seen as representing the broad, seemingly endless expanse of grief experienced by each of the book's three central characters: the boulders can be seen as representing the occasional interludes of hope and positivity they each experience in the midst of that grief.

Tuizelo

A fictionalized version of the real-life town of Tuizelo is a key setting in the first and third parts of the book. Specifically, it is...