Jos Saramago 
Manual of Painting and Calligraphy [EPUB ebook] 

H. is a struggling artist with a commission to paint a portrait of a well-known industrialist. Whilst the industrialist sits for the portrait, H. begins an affair with his subject s secretary. Meanwhile the painting starts to fail. For inspiration H. takes a trip to Italy to contemplate the works of the great artists, but when his friend back home is arrested by the secret police of Salazar s regime, H. is pulled back to Portugal. Art, sexuality and politics collide in Saramago s first novel.