Janet Azevedo

A Promise in Portugal Janet Azevedo

At 81 years old, Evalina da Rosa, a very wealthy widow, decided to begin her life anew. She had survived a marriage of 60 years to a man whose moral code was non-existent. But her essential optimism had not faded, only dimmed. She was determined to find joy before she passed on to the next world and her methods were distinctly at odds with 1901 Lisbon society. She placed an ad in the city's largest newspaper requesting applicants for an open position - her husband. Shortly before the time that Evalina decided to embark on the scandalous scheme, the young Miguel Machado was departing his native island of Terceira for the big city of Lisbon in an effort to find the financial wherewithal to return to the Azore Islands to marry the beautiful but more well-to-do Maria Barcelos. The journey that brings these two very unique individuals into the same sphere raises themes of love, courage, intrigue, murder and a final redemption that touches each of their core beings and changes their lives forever.