Cipriano Algor, an aging potter, lives with his daughter and her husband in the shadow of the Centre, a nebulous, constantly expanding conglomerate that provides his livelihood - until it decrees that it is no longer interested in his humble wares. Together with his daughter, they craft a new line of small ceramic figurines and, to their bafflement, the Centre orders cast quantities. But once the figures are complete, the Centre recants: there is no market for them. Resigned to idleness, Cipriano moves to a soulless megaplex, until late one night he comes across a horrifying secret in the bowels of the artificial city. "The Cave" is a harrowing, joyful masterpiece: an Orwellian nightmare, a family fable and an uplifting love story.

若泽·萨拉马戈（José Saramago，1922-2010）

葡萄牙作家。1947年出版首部小说《罪孽之地》，1995年获葡萄牙语文学最高奖项卡蒙斯文学奖。1998年，因其“充满想象、同情和讽喻的寓言故事，不断地使我们对虚幻的现实加深理解”，被授予诺贝尔文学奖。

萨拉马戈的作品风格独特，内涵深刻，作品主题大多关心的是人类的命运与世界的前途。写作手法上，他创立了一种充满想象、隐喻和讽刺的小说类型，赢得了无数读者的赞誉。

他一生创作了数十部小说和其他文学作品，已经被翻译成30多种语言，总销售超过350万册，主要作品包括《修道院纪事》《里卡尔多·雷耶斯离世那年》《所有的名字》《石筏》等。