Cousin Bazilio

O Primo Basílio ("Cousin Bazilio") is one of the most highly regarded realist novels of the Portuguese author José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, also known under the modernized spelling Eça de Queirós. He worked in the Portuguese consular service, stationed at 53 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, from late 1874 until April 1879. The novel was written during this productive period in his career, appearing in 1878.

A bowdlerized translation of this book by Mary Jane Serrano under the title Dragon's Teeth: A Novel was published in the United States in 1889, still available as a print-on-demand title. More accurate translations have since been published, first in 1953 by the poet Roy Campbell and then in 2003 by award-winning translator Margaret Jull Costa.

Jorge, a successful engineer and employee of a ministry and Luísa, a romantic and dreamy girl, star as the typical bourgeois couple of the Lisbon society of the 19th century.

There is a group of friends who attend the home of Jorge and Luísa: D. Felicidade (Dr. Happiness), a woman suffering from gas crises and is in love with the Councillor; Sebastião (Sebastian), a close friend of Jorge; Councillor Acacio, good scholar; Ernestinho; and maids Joana - hussy and flirty - and Juliana - angry, envious, spiteful and bitter woman, responsible for the conflict of the novel.

At the same time cultivating a formal and happy marriage with Jorge, Louise still maintains friendship with a former colleague, Leopoldina - called "Bread and Cheese" for her continuous betrayal and adultery. Luísa's happiness and safety become endangered when Jorge need to travel to work at Alentejo.

After the departure of her husband, Luísa is bored with nothing to do, in the doldrums and melancholy caused by the absence of her husband, and exactly in this meantime Bazilio comes from abroad. A womanizer and a "bon vivant", he doesn't take long to win the love of Luisa (they had date before Luisa meet Jorge). Luísa was a person with a strong romantic view of life as she usually read only novels, and Bazilio was the man of her dreams: he was rich and lived in France. The friendly love became an ardent passion and this causes Luisa to practice adultery. Meanwhile, Juliana is just waiting for a chance to blackmail Luisa.