Lisbon, late-1940s. The inhabitants of an old apartment block are struggling to make ends meet. There's the elderly shoemaker and his wife who take in a solitary young lodger; the woman who sells herself for money and jewellery; the cultivated family come down in the world; and the beautiful typist whose boss can't keep his eyes off her.

Poisonous relationships, happy marriages, jealousy, gossip and love - Skylight brings together the joys and grief of ordinary people. One of his earliest novels, it provides an entry into Saramago's universe but was lost for decades and published, as per his wishes, after his death.