Looking for the best books set in Lisbon? The Portuguese capital has long inspired writers with its hills, neighbourhoods, and unique atmosphere shaped by centuries of trade, hospitality, and cultural exchange. From wartime stories to philosophical novels and literary classics, these books set in Lisbon capture the city’s moods and make it an unforgettable setting for fiction.
Explore the Best Books Set in Portugal Beyond Lisbon.
Discover how Portugal is portrayed in books.
The Two Hotel Francforts by David Leavitt
In The Two Hotel Francforts, Lisbon becomes a tense crossroads of hope and uncertainty in the summer of 1940, as refugees fleeing Nazi domination in Europe gather in the city’s cafés and hotels, awaiting passage to America. Centred around Rossio Square, the novel captures a single, fraught week in which two couples struggle to make their way through bureaucracy, fear, and unexpected romance. Against the backdrop of an overcrowded Lisbon, the book evokes the city’s role as a final gateway to freedom during the early days of the Second World War.
- Setting: Lisbon
- Publication: 2013
- Original title: The Two Hotel Francforts
- 272 pages
- For a similar story setting, see The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque.
Read the full book page: The Two Hotel Francforts by David Leavitt
The Piano Cemetery by José Luís Peixoto
In The Piano Cemetery, Lisbon’s Benfica neighbourhood is brought to life through the story of a carpenter’s family whose workshop shelters a “cemetery” of broken pianos. The novel weaves together intimate moments of love, ambition, and loss, offering a finely tuned composition of Lisbon around 1900. Readers will be drawn in by its lyrical style and the blend of personal and historical narrative, inspired by the tragic fate of marathon runner Francisco Lázaro.
- Setting: Lisbon (Portugal) and Stockholm (Sweden)
- Publication: 2006
- Original title: Cemitério de Pianos
- 277 pages
- Notable: José Luís Peixoto received the José Saramago Prize and the Oceanos Prize.
Read the full book page: The Piano Cemetery by José Luís Peixoto
Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
In Night Train to Lisbon, Lisbon unfolds as a city of memory and introspection, its streets and libraries guiding a Swiss teacher as he researches the life of a dissident doctor under the oppressive Salazar regime. As he pieces together fragments of the past, the Portuguese capital becomes a backdrop for questions about identity, choice, and missed opportunities.
- Setting: Lisbon
- Publication: 2004
- Original title: Nachtzug nach Lissabon
- 448 pages
- Notable: Night Train to Lisbon was awarded the Premio Cavour and became an international bestseller.
Read the full book page: Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler
In the historical novel The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, sixteenth-century Lisbon forms the backdrop to a tale of persecution and secrecy. In the aftermath of an antisemitic riot, the young Berekiah Zarco makes his way through a city marked by fear and suspicion as he investigates a murder within Lisbon’s hidden Jewish community. Blending historical detail with a murder mystery, the novel brings to life a lesser-known chapter of the city’s past.
- Setting: Lisbon
- Publication: 1996
- 320 pages
Read the full book page: The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler
Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi
Set in Lisbon in 1938 under the authoritarian rule of Salazar, Pereira Maintains follows the middle-aged journalist Pereira leading a low-profile, uneventful life. His routine is disrupted when he takes on a young assistant whose politically engaged writing challenges Pereira’s reluctance to confront the regime. As events take a darker turn, Pereira is forced to reconsider his silence and finds the courage to take a stand. The novel explores the moral choices faced under political repression and offers a poignant reflection on conscience, fear, and responsibility.
- Setting: Lisbon
- Publication: 1994
- Original title: Sostiene Pereira
- 160 pages
- Notable: Pereira Maintains was awarded many prizes including the Aristeion Prize, the Premio Campiello, the Premio Viareggio, and the Premio Scanno.
Read the full book page: Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi
The Following Story by Cees Nooteboom
In The Following Story, a man who goes to bed in Amsterdam awakens in a hotel room in Lisbon, where he is drawn back into a long-buried love affair. In this Dutch novella, the Portuguese capital becomes a space of memory and reflection, its quiet atmosphere mirroring the narrator’s meditation on love, betrayal, and mortality.
- Setting: Lisbon (Portugal) and Belém (Brazil)
- Publication: 1991
- Original title: Het volgende verhaal
- 128 pages
- Notable: The Following Story was awarded the Aristeion Prize. Cees Nooteboom won several other literary honours, including the Pegasus Prize and the Bordewijk Prize.
Read the full book page: The Following Story by Cees Nooteboom
The Return of the Caravels by António Lobo Antunes
In The Return of the Caravels, Lisbon becomes a surreal stage where figures from Portugal’s Age of Exploration, such as Vasco da Gama, reappear in the aftermath of decolonisation. They arrive in a country they no longer recognise, reflecting a nation grappling with the collapse of its imperial identity. Blending past and present with irony, the novel offers an unconventional portrait of Lisbon and Portuguese history.
- Setting: Lisbon
- Publication: 1988
- Original title: As Naus
- 224 pages
- Notable: António Lobo Antunes has received numerous literary awards, including the Camões Prize, the International Nonino Prize, the FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages, the Ovid Prize, and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature.
Read the full book page: The Return of the Caravels by António Lobo Antunes
Winter in Lisbon by Antonio Munoz Molina
In Winter in Lisbon, Lisbon is portrayed as a nocturnal city of smoky bars and fleeting encounters, where jazz and intrigue intertwine. Part love story, part crime thriller, the novel follows a pianist and a mysterious woman through a shadowy world of art theft and obsession. With its film noir atmosphere and musical rhythm, it offers a stylish and evocative glimpse of Lisbon’s darker side.
- Setting: Lisbon, San Sebastian, and Madrid
- Publication: 1987
- Original title: El invierno en Lisboa
- 224 pages
- Notable: Winter in Lisbon was awarded the Premio Nacional de Narrativa and the Premio de la Crítica. Spanish author Antonio Muñoz Molina has received many other literary accolades, including the Príncipe de Asturias Award, the Premio Planeta, the Premio Nacional de Narrativa, and the Prix Méditerranée Étranger.
Read the full book page: Winter in Lisbon by Antonio Munoz Molina
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by José Saramago
In 1930s Lisbon, a city of quiet streets under the Salazar regime, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis follows a man drifting through life after his return from Brazil. As Ricardo Reis moves between cafés, newspapers, and conversations with the ghost of Fernando Pessoa, Lisbon becomes a place of memory and unrealised possibility. Blending history with philosophical introspection, the novel offers a subtle, deeply atmospheric portrait of the Portuguese capital.
- Setting: Lisbon
- Publication: 1984
- Original title: O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis
- 368 pages
- Notable: José Saramago won the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Camões Prize.
Read the full book page: The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by José Saramago
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
Rather than telling a conventional story, The Book of Disquiet immerses the reader in the inner life of Lisbon from the 1910s to the 1930s, as seen through the quiet routines of an office clerk. The city’s streets, offices, and cafés become the backdrop to a stream of reflections on identity, solitude, and everyday existence. Fragmentary and atmospheric, the book offers a uniquely intimate portrait of Lisbon.
- Setting: Lisbon
- Publication: 1982 (47 years after the author’s death)
- Original title: Livro do Desassossego: Composto por Bernardo Soares, ajudante de guarda-livros na cidade de Lisboa
- 544 pages
- Notable: Fernando Pessoa is widely regarded as one of the greatest Portuguese writers of the twentieth century.
Read the full book page: The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque
In The Night in Lisbon, Lisbon in 1942 stands as a gateway between persecution and escape. Refugees gather in cafés, hotels, and squares, waiting for a chance to flee Nazi-dominated Europe. Over the course of a single night in the Portuguese capital, one man recounts to another his haunting story of love, loss, and survival. Both suspenseful and deeply moving, the novel vividly captures Lisbon’s role as a “port of last hope” during the Second World War.
- Setting: Lisbon and other places in Europe
- Publication: 1962
- Original title: Die Nacht von Lissabon
- 272 pages
- Notable: Erich Maria Remarque is best known for his anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front. For a similar story setting, see The Two Hotel Francforts by David Leavitt.
Read the full book page: The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque
