A reading room for the curious
Go beyond the view. Find the guides, walking companions, wine histories and stories that bring the island into focus.
195 books 9 languages One remarkable island
SELECTED FROM THE COLLECTION 32° N / 17° W
01 / The short shelf
Four different ways to get to know Madeira, picked from the collection.
01 / For the levadas
The long-running Sunflower Landscapes guide to Madeira: 100 long and short walks plus 6 car tours, with large-scale topographic maps and downloadable GPS tracks. The latest (16th) edition.
Explore this book02 / For your first visit
Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2025 edition
The latest edition of Lonely Planet’s compact pocket guide to Madeira, with detailed itineraries and coverage of Funchal, the north coast, east Madeira and Porto Santo.
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Madeira Wine
English · 2022 edition
The standard modern reference on Madeira wine. This comprehensively updated edition covers the islands’ history and geography, the vineyards and winemaking, a guide to current producers and shippers, and tasting notes on more than 400 wines. Shortlisted for the André Simon Award.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2013 edition
Set in Madeira after WWI, a disillusioned ex-soldier tries to rescue his family’s failing wine business as the island fills with real figures of the era — an exiled emperor, Agatha Christie at Reid’s Hotel, George Bernard Shaw learning to tango — and a murder draws him in.
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02 / Follow your curiosity
Choose a way into the island. Each shelf brings together books worth exploring.
03 / The collection
Search 195 books by title, author or subject. Refine by category and language.
Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2025 edition
The current Rough Guide covering both Madeira and the Azores, with regional coverage, itineraries, walking suggestions and practical information, plus a free eBook.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2025 edition
A compact current guide to Madeira with curated sights, food and drink recommendations, three short-trip itineraries, practical advice and overview maps covering Funchal, the rest of the island and Porto Santo.
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English · 2025 edition
The latest edition of Lonely Planet’s compact pocket guide to Madeira, with detailed itineraries and coverage of Funchal, the north coast, east Madeira and Porto Santo.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2025 edition
The latest DK Top 10 pocket guide to Madeira, with ranked sights, beaches, outdoor activities, hiking trails and wine outlets, brand-new itineraries and a laminated pull-out map.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2026 edition
The latest Marco Polo pocket guide to Madeira, with insider tips, discovery tours, practical Portuguese phrases and a detachable map for exploring the island.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2019 edition
A concise full-colour Insight pocket guide with curated itineraries, top attractions, a perfect-tour route, eating-out listings, a pull-out map and a free eBook.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2017 edition
A compact Berlitz pocket guide covering Madeira’s highlights — Monte, the Jardim Botânico and Pico do Arieiro — with a perfect-day itinerary and practical information.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2009 edition
An AA Spiral Guide to Madeira with themed sightseeing coverage, walks and tours, and the practical information needed to plan an island trip.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2023 edition
Fodor’s full-colour guide to Portugal with a dedicated chapter on Madeira and Funchal — a current, in-print option for travellers combining the island with the mainland.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2017 edition
A Sunflower "Landscapes" guide pairing six car tours (with a fold-out touring map) with around 100 long and short walks on 1:40,000 topographic maps — driving itineraries combined with levada and country walks.
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Travel & Walking Guides
German · 2023 edition
A tear-resistant, weatherproof 1:50,000 topographic hiking and cycling map of Madeira showing official named/numbered trails, plus 1:25,000 detail maps, an activity guide and an offline app version.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2019 edition
A laminated, waterproof and tear-resistant 1:40,000 road and leisure map of Madeira, highlighting sights across categories (adventure, culture, food, nature) with an indexed road network.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2023 edition
Michelin’s illustrated Green Guide covering Portugal together with Madeira and the Azores, with star-rated attractions, essays on history, art and culture, and suggested touring itineraries.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2025 edition
The revised Moon guide to Portugal by long-time resident Carrie-Marie Bratley, with dedicated coverage of Madeira and the Azores, flexible itineraries, local food and wine, and practical planning advice.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2023 edition
Frommer’s complete Portugal guide by Algarve-based experts, covering the country from the Minho to Madeira’s rocky shores, with opinionated reviews and suggested itineraries including Madeira.
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Travel & Walking Guides
German · 2022 edition
A German-language Reise Know-How travel guide to Madeira and Porto Santo with 18 walking tours, accommodation across budgets, 28 maps, a fold-out island map and a short language section.
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Travel & Walking Guides
German · 2022 edition
A compact German-language "InselTrip" guide to Madeira and Porto Santo covering sights, beaches, diving/surfing spots, five walks, cuisine and wine, with a fold-out plan and free web app.
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Travel & Walking Guides
German · 2026 edition
The ninth edition of this independently researched German Madeira guide, with 32 detailed maps, 12 tours, a removable island map and access to the MMTravel app.
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Travel & Walking Guides
German · 2025 edition
A German-language DuMont pocket travel guide to Madeira with a regional breakdown, individual author tips, numerous tours and recommended restaurants. Latest (3rd) edition, 2025.
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Travel & Walking Guides
German · 2022 edition
A comprehensive German-language Baedeker guide to Madeira combining nature, culture and history with sightseeing, touring suggestions and practical tips, plus a large fold-out travel map.
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Travel & Walking Guides
English · 2011 edition
A dedicated Stormrider surf guide to the Azores and Madeira, with maps, photos and break-by-break descriptions of Madeira’s surf spots, conditions, hazards and local culture.
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Travel & Walking Guides
French · 2026 edition
The popular French Routard guide to Madeira — thematic and geographic itineraries, addresses for all budgets, maps and a selection of the island’s best walks.
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Travel & Walking Guides
French · 2025 edition
Lonely Planet’s French pocket guide for short stays on Madeira — neighbourhood walks, highlights and a pull-out map.
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Travel & Walking Guides
French · 2025 edition
Michelin’s compact French Green Guide to Madeira — star-rated sights, ready-made itineraries such as “Madeira in 3 days”, and a detachable map.
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French · 2025 edition
The French Petit Futé guide to Madeira — up-to-date practical information, reviews of restaurants, hotels and activities, and history and culture.
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Travel & Walking Guides
French · 2025 edition
Gallimard’s French Géoguide to Madeira, pairing the authors’ favourite addresses and experiences with detailed practical and cultural information.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Dutch · 2023 edition
A compact Dutch ANWB guide to Madeira — 15 must-see highlights, practical tips on accommodation, transport and dining, and a detachable map.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Dutch · 2023 edition
The Dutch ANWB “Ontdek” (Discover) guide to Madeira — original tours and routes off the standard tourist trail, with practical tips.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Dutch · 2018 edition
A compact Dutch Capitool (DK) guide to Madeira — the island in five regions with highlights, maps, illustrations and a removable map.
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Dutch · 2023 edition
The Dutch Capitool Top 10 guide to Madeira — top-10 lists of the best sights and activities across Funchal, the island and Porto Santo.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Dutch · 2024 edition
A compact Dutch Marco Polo guide to Madeira — insider tips, itineraries, practical information and a detachable street-plan map.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Dutch · 2017 edition
A richly illustrated Dutch Dominicus guide to Madeira, strong on history, culture, landscape and nature alongside practical travel information.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Dutch · 2024 edition
The Dutch Wat & Hoe guide to Madeira — insider tips, a Top 10 selection, walking maps and fold-out maps.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Spanish · 2024 edition
The Spanish Lonely Planet “De cerca” pocket guide to Madeira — curated highlights, neighbourhood walks, itineraries and a pull-out map.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Spanish · 2013 edition
The Spanish Anaya Touring “Guía Viva” to Madeira — selected hotels and restaurants, context on history, art and nature, and practical info including Porto Santo.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Spanish · 2010 edition
A compact Spanish Anaya guide to Madeira — star-rated attractions, walking and driving routes, island maps and practical information.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Italian · 2023 edition
The Italian Lonely Planet/EDT pocket guide to Madeira — a pull-out map, curated highlights and itineraries.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Italian · 2025 edition
The Italian Marco Polo guide to Madeira — itineraries, detailed maps, insider tips and a pull-out map including Porto Santo.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Polish · 2023 edition
The Polish Bezdroża “Travelbook” guide to Madeira (4th edition) — concise practical information, maps, fact boxes and photography.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Polish · 2024 edition
A richly illustrated Polish Bezdroża “#travel&style” guide to Madeira, combining practical information with inspirational design and photography.
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Travel & Walking Guides
Polish · 2024 edition
The Polish-language Lonely Planet Pocket guide to Madeira (Pascal) — curated highlights, itineraries and a pull-out map.
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English · 2018 edition
Cicerone guidebook describing 60 day walks across Madeira and Porto Santo, covering mountains, coast, forest and the classic levada routes, with sketch maps and GPS data.
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Hiking & Levadas
English · 2025 edition
A Rother Walking Guide with 70 of the finest levada and mountain walks on Madeira, including GPS tracks and detailed route maps.
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English · 2026 edition
The long-running Sunflower Landscapes guide to Madeira: 100 long and short walks plus 6 car tours, with large-scale topographic maps and downloadable GPS tracks. The latest (16th) edition.
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Hiking & Levadas
English · 2024 edition
A pocket Sunflower guide combining 13 fairly easy walks with recommended local restaurants and recipes, including the cable-car excursion to Monte and a round-the-island bus tour.
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Hiking & Levadas
English · 2019 edition
A detailed double-sided 1:40,000 walking and touring map of Madeira showing walking routes and the road network, available in paper and super-durable editions.
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Hiking & Levadas
English · 2019 edition
A Discovery Walking Guides volume of leisure-grade walking routes on Madeira, with route maps and GPS waypoints. Companion to the higher-altitude Volume Two.
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Hiking & Levadas
English · 2010 edition
A Discovery Walking Guides walking book for Madeira (revised edition) with graded routes and accompanying maps, designed to pair with the Discovery Tour & Trail map.
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Hiking & Levadas
English
A guide to Madeira’s iconic levadas — the hand-cut irrigation channels that thread the mountains — by geographer Raimundo Quintal, combining cultural and historical background with practical footpath descriptions.
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Hiking & Levadas
English · 2018 edition
A Trailblazer walking guide with 37 selected walks across all regions of Madeira — from easy levada strolls to mountain hikes — with large-scale trail maps, altitude profiles, transport notes and downloadable GPS tracks.
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Hiking & Levadas
German · 2023 edition
A German-language KOMPASS hiking guide describing 60 tours on Madeira, with a removable tour map, colour-coded difficulty, route maps and downloadable GPX data.
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Hiking & Levadas
German · 2026 edition
The 21st updated German edition of Rother’s Madeira walking guide, describing 70 levada and mountain walks with detailed maps, elevation profiles and downloadable GPS tracks.
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Hiking & Levadas
German · 2018 edition
A German-language Reise Know-How hiking guide with 50 walking routes on Madeira — from popular trails to lesser-known corners — with maps, height profiles and GPS tracks.
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Hiking & Levadas
English · 2015 edition
Over 40 graded “leisure walks” compiled by Madeira’s long-time resident walking expert, with route ratings, GPS waypoints and full-colour 1:40,000 mapping.
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Hiking & Levadas
Dutch · 2025 edition
The Dutch edition of the Rother walking guide — 70 of Madeira’s finest levada and mountain walks with route descriptions, maps and elevation profiles.
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Polish · 2014 edition
A Polish Bezdroża recreational guide to Madeira (“Garden on the Atlantic”), focused on active travel, walking and the island’s nature.
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English · 2022 edition
The standard modern reference on Madeira wine. This comprehensively updated edition covers the islands’ history and geography, the vineyards and winemaking, a guide to current producers and shippers, and tasting notes on more than 400 wines. Shortlisted for the André Simon Award.
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Madeira Wine
English · 2011 edition
A classic, widely regarded as one of the greatest books ever written on Madeira. Written by Noël Cossart of the Cossart Gordon shipping family from insider knowledge of the trade, this expanded edition was edited and updated by Mannie Berk of the Rare Wine Co.
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Madeira Wine
English · 2014 edition
A completely revised edition of Liddell’s authoritative study (the original was shortlisted for the André Simon Award), covering the island’s history, grape varieties, producers and the wines themselves, brought up to date.
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Madeira Wine
English · 2010 edition
A practical guide by WSET Diploma holder and Madeira specialist Trevor Elliott, the result of years of research: the grapes, the producers (with profiles), tasting notes and food-pairing suggestions.
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Madeira Wine
English · 1961 edition
A classic mid-century monograph on Madeira wine, part of Croft-Cooke’s fortified-wine trilogy alongside his books on Sherry and Port — a literary, historically minded account of the island’s wine and trade. Available secondhand.
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Madeira Wine
English · 1933 edition
A short classic by the great wine writer André Simon with Elizabeth Craig, pairing essays on Madeira wine with recipes for Madeira cake, sauces and dishes that use the wine — an early bridge between Madeira wine and gastronomy. Available secondhand.
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Portuguese · 2003 edition
The reference history (in Portuguese) of Madeira’s vine and wine from the 15th to the 20th century, by historian Alberto Vieira, director of the Atlantic-history study centre (CEHA).
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History & Culture
English · 1988 edition
An extensively researched account of nearly two centuries of British commercial and social influence on Madeira, tracing how resident merchant families informally “colonised” the island as a key staging post in transatlantic trade.
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History & Culture
English · 1987 edition
A detailed treatment of Madeira’s celebrated embroidery tradition — its history, fibres and techniques — with step-by-step stitch instructions, diagrams, photographs and projects.
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History & Culture
English · 2015 edition
A wide-ranging account of how exploration, empire and migration shaped the Portuguese diaspora, including the Madeirans who settled in places such as Guyana, Bermuda, Hawaii, Venezuela and South Africa.
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History & Culture
English · 2004 edition
Nine essays re-evaluating the early Atlantic “sugar revolution”, including a chapter on the sugar economy of Madeira and the Canaries, showing how Madeira pioneered the plantation-and-slavery model later exported to the Americas.
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History & Culture
English · 1977 edition
A foundational scholarly narrative of the Portuguese overseas discoveries, with a step-by-step account of Atlantic exploration and the settlement of the Atlantic islands, including Madeira.
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History & Culture
English · 1825 edition
A classic early 19th-century account of Madeira and Porto Santo by the explorer T. E. Bowdich, with zoological and botanical material added by his wife Sarah Bowdich Lee. Available as a modern facsimile reprint.
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History & Culture
English · 2022 edition
A reprint of William Combe’s 1821 history of Madeira, notable for engravings illustrating the costumes, manners and occupations of its inhabitants — a frequently cited early English-language account of island life.
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History & Culture
English · 1857 edition
A facsimile of Robert White’s 1857 handbook describing the island’s climate, scenery, flora, geology and meteorology, written for the Victorian travellers and “invalids” who made Madeira a fashionable health resort.
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History & Culture
English · 1970 edition
The illustrated travel journal of Isabella de França, wife of a London merchant of Madeiran origin — lost for nearly a century, then rediscovered — offering a vivid writer’s and watercolourist’s portrait of island life in 1853–54.
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History & Culture
English · 2018 edition
A reprint of Alfred Lyall’s 1826 travel account of his rambles through Madeira and Portugal, one of the British travel narratives that shaped outside perceptions of the island.
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History & Culture
English · 1986 edition
An illustrated history of the Madeiran Portuguese in British Guiana, who began arriving in 1835 to work on sugar plantations and later became a prominent merchant community.
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History & Culture
English · 1992 edition
A scholarly study of the Madeiran-descended Portuguese community in Guyana — their culture and the tensions of colonial society — and the fuller successor to Menezes’s earlier “Scenes from the History of the Portuguese in Guyana”.
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History & Culture
English · 2015 edition
An accessible, illustrated overview of Madeira’s history — from its 15th-century discovery and settlement through the sugar and wine economies to the modern era — produced with the Madeira Story Centre in Funchal.
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History & Culture
English · 2011 edition
Marcus Binney’s bicentenary history of the Blandy family, the English merchant dynasty that became Madeira’s leading wine shippers (and owners of Reid’s Palace) while expanding into banking, shipping and more. Richly illustrated.
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History & Culture
English · 2000 edition
A joint biography of the last Habsburg emperor, Charles (Karl) I, and Empress Zita — covering his final exile and death from pneumonia at Quinta do Monte in Madeira in 1922 and his burial at the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte.
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History & Culture
English · 2020 edition
A full-length biography of Empress Zita, tracing the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the family’s exile to Madeira, where her husband, Blessed Charles, died in 1922.
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History & Culture
English · 1991 edition
The standard English-language biography of Empress Zita, drawing on her diaries — the dynasty’s downfall, the exile to Madeira and Charles’s death there in 1922, and her six decades of exile.
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History & Culture
English · 1972 edition
A classic scholarly study of the Portuguese Atlantic islands’ role in 17th-century commerce and maritime navigation — a foundational academic reference for Madeira and wider Macaronesia.
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History & Culture
English · 2004 edition
Part of the "Of Islands & Women" series — a literary and historical exploration of Madeira through the lives of its women and the accounts of women travellers and writers who visited or lived on the island.
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History & Culture
English · 2018 edition
A reprint (originally 1896) recounting Dr Robert Reid Kalley’s Protestant mission in Madeira and the 1846 persecution and forced exile of Madeiran Presbyterian converts to Trinidad and the USA.
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History & Culture
English · 2007 edition
A hardcover history of Madeira embroidery produced by the Bordal house in Funchal (English translation), documenting the origins, techniques and cultural significance of the island’s famous whitework.
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History & Culture
English · 1882 edition
A classic Victorian guide and personal account of touring Madeira — how to see the island, letters from a year’s residence, and lists of its trees, flowers, ferns and seaweeds. Available as a facsimile reprint.
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History & Culture
English · 1911 edition
W. H. Koebel’s engaging Edwardian portrait of Madeira, weaving the island’s history with contemporary life and travel, illustrated with photographs by Mildred Cossart.
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History & Culture
English · 1900 edition
Anthony Drexel Biddle’s turn-of-the-century account of the Madeira Islands — history, scenery, vine-culture and society — with full-page illustrations and maps.
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History & Culture
English · 1851 edition
A mid-Victorian traveller’s sketch of Madeira for visitors and invalids seeking the island’s restorative climate, with practical and descriptive information.
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English · 1885 edition
Naturalist James Yate Johnson’s handbook to Madeira for invalids and visitors, with substantial chapters on the island’s fauna, flora, geology and meteorology.
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History & Culture
English · 1901 edition
The famous “Brown’s” practical guide for tourists and invalids, with coloured maps and diagrams, that ran through many editions and shaped early Madeira tourism.
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History & Culture
English · 1850 edition
American statesman John Adams Dix’s narrative of a winter spent in Madeira, recording the island’s climate, scenery and society from an invalid-traveller’s perspective.
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History & Culture
English · 1838 edition
John Driver’s first-hand letters from 1830s Madeira, with an appendix on the island’s history, climate and wine trade — a vivid early-19th-century portrait.
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English · 1851 edition
American naval chaplain Walter Colton’s travel sketches, opening with Madeira before Lisbon and the Mediterranean — the island as seen by a mid-century sea voyager.
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History & Culture
English · 1840 edition
An early-Victorian guide written for invalids travelling to Madeira for its climate, with notes on Tenerife and Lisbon and a Portuguese–English vocabulary.
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History & Culture
English · 1891 edition
A practical Victorian guidebook to Madeira compiled by William Reid, founder of the celebrated Reid’s Hotel, gathering useful information for visitors to the island.
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History & Culture
English · 1870 edition
Dr Michael Grabham, the long-resident Madeira physician, analyses the island’s climate and its suitability for consumptive invalids — a key text in Madeira’s rise as a health resort.
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History & Culture
English · 1860 edition
A 19th-century account of the persecution and exile of Madeira’s Protestant converts under Dr Robert Reid Kalley — a notable episode in the island’s religious history.
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History & Culture
Portuguese
A Portuguese-language narrative history spanning 600 years of Madeira — from Zarco’s 1419 landing and the Funchal sugar barons through the Atlantic slave economy to the 1976 autonomy.
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History & Culture
Portuguese · 2018 edition
Volume IV of Rui Carita’s monumental Portuguese-language history of Madeira, on the 18th century: royal centralisation, the captain-general, the Church and the treasury.
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Portuguese · 2009 edition
Alberto Vieira rethinks Madeira’s economic history (in Portuguese), moving beyond product-and-cycle accounts to neglected themes such as finance and contraband in the archipelago.
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Portuguese
The oldest narrative chronicle of Madeira’s history (written before 1590), recounting the island’s discovery and the deeds of its captains — a foundational primary source, in a modern Portuguese edition.
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History & Culture
English · 2009 edition
A major scholarly history reconstructing how the Madeira wine trade (c.1640–1815) shaped Atlantic commerce, self-organising merchant networks and American consumer taste.
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History & Culture
English · 1996 edition
An English-language volume edited by Madeira historian Alberto Vieira on the relationship between enslaved labour and the sugar economy in Madeira and the wider Atlantic.
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History & Culture
English · 2018 edition
A study of the Madeiran Portuguese who emigrated to Trinidad from the 1830s — their business, religious, cultural and linguistic integration into Trinidadian society.
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History & Culture
English · 2020 edition
A scholarly examination of transnational identity and heritage-language use among the Madeiran Portuguese diaspora on Jersey in the Channel Islands.
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English · 1978 edition
A centennial volume documenting the 20,000+ people from Madeira, the Azores and Portugal who migrated to work Hawaii’s sugar plantations (1878–1913), with essays and historical photographs.
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History & Culture
English · 2012 edition
An edited volume of case studies on migration across the Portuguese world, including the making of a largely Madeiran community in 20th-century South Africa.
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History & Culture
English · 2004 edition
An illustrated study of Madeira’s historic quintas — the grand manor-house estates of Funchal built by Portuguese aristocrats and British wine-merchant families — documenting their architecture, history and decline.
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History & Culture
English · 2009 edition
A photographic history of Aquila Airways, whose flying boats carried passengers between Southampton and Funchal from 1949 until the final flight in 1958.
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History & Culture
English · 2025 edition
An English-language narrative history of Madeira from Zarco’s 1419 arrival through the sugar era to the 1976 autonomy (the English edition of “Uma Nova História da Madeira”).
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History & Culture
English · 2004 edition
An illustrated reference on Madeira’s traditional whitework hand-embroidery (bordado) — its history, stitches and techniques. A distinct alternative to Carolyn Walker’s book.
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Nature & Wildlife
English · 2006 edition
The first field guide dealing exclusively with the birds of Macaronesia — the Canaries, Madeira, the Azores and Cape Verde — covering over 450 species with colour plates and accounts of identification, status, range and voice.
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Nature & Wildlife
English · 2014 edition
A “where to watch birds” site guide covering all Portuguese territory, including the Madeira and Azores archipelagos — the best places and times to find the region’s endemic taxa, seabird colonies and vagrants.
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Nature & Wildlife
English · 2019 edition
A photographic identification guide to the whales, dolphins, porpoises and seals of European seas, explicitly including the Macaronesian waters around Madeira — ideal for the island’s whale-watching trips.
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Nature & Wildlife
English · 2020 edition
A practical, pocket-sized worldwide field guide by cetacean expert Mark Carwardine covering all 93 species, with 500+ illustrations and identification tips — a handy companion for the species-rich waters off Madeira.
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Nature & Wildlife
English · 2018 edition
A comprehensive WILDGuides photographic field guide to the wildlife of Madeira and the Canary Islands — birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies and dragonflies — with distribution maps and key sites. Arguably the best all-round wildlife guide for Madeira.
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Nature & Wildlife
English · 2019 edition
A wildlife and nature travel guide to Madeira for birdwatchers, naturalists and ramblers — 15 routes plus sites across Madeira and Porto Santo, with background on geology, flora and fauna, and sea-life excursions to the Desertas and Selvagens.
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Nature & Wildlife
English · 2011 edition
A field guide illustrating all 573 species and subspecies of birds recorded in Macaronesia, with 150 colour plates and 230 maps — covering Madeira’s endemics such as Zino’s Petrel, the Trocaz Pigeon and the Madeira Firecrest.
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Nature & Wildlife
Multilingual · 2018 edition
A waterproof pocket dive/snorkel identification guide to 247 marine species around the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries and Cape Verde, each shown with pictograms for habitat, diet and behaviour, named in five languages.
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Nature & Wildlife
German · 2011 edition
A diver’s fish identification guide by marine biologist Peter Wirtz, covering about 150 fish species around Madeira, the Canaries and the Azores with 200+ colour photographs (German text).
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Nature & Wildlife
English · 1854 edition
Thomas Vernon Wollaston’s pioneering account of the insects of the Madeiran archipelago — a foundational work of island natural history based on his 1840s fieldwork.
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Nature & Wildlife
English · 1878 edition
Wollaston’s survey of the land and freshwater molluscs of the Atlantic islands including Madeira — a standard 19th-century reference in island malacology.
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Flora & Gardens
English · 2006 edition
A colour-illustrated botanical pocket guide describing 166 typical plants of Madeira, organised by habitat — gardens and parks, the coast, cultivated land and levadas, the laurisilva forest and the mountains.
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Flora & Gardens
English · 1994 edition
The first comprehensive flora to describe all vascular plants of the Madeiran and Salvage Islands — over 1,360 species — with descriptions, identification keys, habitat and distribution data and 57 illustrated plates.
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Flora & Gardens
English · 2020 edition
A reprint of the classic 19th-century botanical flora by naturalist Richard Thomas Lowe, describing the plants of Madeira together with Porto Santo and the Desertas — a foundational historical reference.
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Flora & Gardens
Multilingual · 1997 edition
A richly illustrated photographic field guide to around 400 wild and cultivated plants of Madeira — one species per page with flowering season, height, origin, family and altitude. A long-running island favourite with multilingual text.
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Flora & Gardens
English · 2008 edition
An accessible photographic guide to the flowers of Madeira by botanist Roberto Jardim of the island’s Botanical Garden — a popular introduction to Madeiran flowers and the island’s distinctive flowering plants.
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Flora & Gardens
English · 2024 edition
A classic Edwardian botanical travelogue, first published in 1909, exploring the gardens, flowers and floral landscapes of Madeira, illustrated with watercolours by Ella Du Cane. Available in modern reprint.
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Flora & Gardens
German · 2022 edition
A German-language field guide to more than 200 Madeiran plants across every vegetation zone, with botanical garden profiles, short walks, maps and downloadable GPS locations.
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German · 2020 edition
The first comprehensive pictorial flora of Madeira — over 1,200 ferns and flowering plants in 1,450+ colour photographs, including almost all ~160 endemic taxa, with habitat and distribution. A 789-page botanical reference (German text).
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Flora & Gardens
English · 2010 edition
An authoritative illustrated survey of around 30 gardens across Madeira by garden designer Gerald Luckhurst, tracing the island’s garden history and the role of Portuguese aristocrats and British wine merchants in creating its quintas.
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Flora & Gardens
English · 1909 edition
The genteel 1909 garden memoir that inspired Tony Powell’s modern homage — Sir Charles Thomas-Stanford’s observations of Madeira’s flora, climate and society from the vantage of his garden.
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Flora & Gardens
English · 2000 edition
A multilingual photographic reference documenting the roughly 165 endemic vascular plant taxa exclusive to the Madeira archipelago and the Selvagens Islands.
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English · 2013 edition
Set in Madeira after WWI, a disillusioned ex-soldier tries to rescue his family’s failing wine business as the island fills with real figures of the era — an exiled emperor, Agatha Christie at Reid’s Hotel, George Bernard Shaw learning to tango — and a murder draws him in.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2001 edition
A love story spanning six centuries, opening in 1429 on a Madeira consumed by a fire that has blazed for seven years, as a peasant girl and a Jewish boy off a Portuguese ship meet — their thwarted love recurring across generations.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2008 edition
Robert Goddard’s bestselling debut. At a lush villa on Madeira, a disgraced historian is hired to investigate the mysterious 1910 downfall of a former British cabinet minister — a quest that uncovers secrets and deaths still haunting a family.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2012 edition
The seventh Julia Probyn mystery (reissued by Bloomsbury Reader). Recently widowed, Julia arrives on Madeira with her infant son and uncovers strange, sinister events that may hold a clue to her husband’s death — rich in the scenes of the island.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2022 edition
Set in 1811, a Quaker doctor leaves his London practice for Funchal hoping Madeira’s climate will cure his consumption — a vivid depiction, with nods to Dickens and Austen, of an island under military occupation and the people he meets.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2018 edition
A horse farrier who loses everything by standing on principle flees a vendetta and escapes to Madeira, finding work on a small farm reachable only by boat — and unexpected community and romance. A contemporary tale steeped in the island’s landscape.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2006 edition
An adventure novel set in late-19th-century Madeira, following a young peasant who rebels against a feudal landlord, conscription and militant priests, fighting for freedom alongside the woman he loves.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2012 edition
Tech journalist Karl Lustig travels to Madeira to lecture at the university and deliver military microchips — and stumbles onto a dangerous puzzle hidden in the chipset. A techno-thriller set largely on the island.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 1992 edition
Botanist-sleuth Celia Grant flies to Madeira to settle her dead niece’s estate, and small anomalies draw her into a web of suspicious characters, missing children, stolen orchids and blackmail.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2012 edition
In the 1930s, told she is dying, Nancy Leigh Cameron leaves New York for the exclusive Sanfords hotel on flower-filled Madeira — not knowing that the man she comes to love is her father’s bitterest enemy.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2015 edition
Bookish heiress Eliza Thoroughgood takes her young cousin to the misty island of Madeira to recuperate — and the pair are taken captive aboard the ship of rogue captain Cyprian Dare. A historical romance set partly on Madeira and at sea.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 1927 edition
A Jazz-Age romantic spy thriller set in the glittering waters off Madeira, by the creator of Fu Manchu — passion, deception and intrigue as a hunt unfolds for documents that could topple a royal house.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2011 edition
Nurse Phyllida Cresswell is stranded on Madeira when a job abroad goes wrong, and the dashing Dutchman Pieter van Sittardt comes to her rescue. A classic Harlequin/Mills & Boon romance set on the island.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 1978 edition
Diane travels to Madeira to meet her pen friend for the first time and unexpectedly meets her friend’s imperious brother, the Duque de Valmardi. A vintage Mills & Boon romance set entirely on the island.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2002 edition
Newly widowed Ellen de Torre visits Madeira and finds her brother-in-law, Brazilian millionaire Addan de Torre, in her bed — he blames her for his brother’s death, but offers instead to show her the island. A Harlequin Presents romance.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 1981 edition
Katherine Matthews marries Luis de Freitas believing he needs her money, only to discover — once living in his home on Madeira — that he had been deceiving her. A vintage Mills & Boon romance set on the island.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2006 edition
Fleeing scandal, Lady Tamina Braithwaite sails toward Madeira under an assumed name as secretary to the Earl of Daventry, and on the voyage the two grow attached as her deception unravels.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2018 edition
A romantic thriller set on Madeira, in which a woman in crisis visits her step-mother on the island seeking answers and becomes entangled with intriguing characters — written by Marjorie Eccles as Jennifer Hyde.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2014 edition
Wealthy, disabled Roberta Ellison settles on Madeira; when she is suddenly widowed, her half-sister arrives to help but brings problems that escalate into violence and murder. A classic British mystery reissued by The Murder Room.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2014 edition
On Madeira, Alec Methven is found dead, his last meal apparently shared with someone anxious to conceal the fact — and a second death follows. A classic mystery by an author who loved the island.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2014 edition
A Superintendent Ditteridge mystery whose trail leads to Madeira, where a man living comfortably as Gavin Chilmark hopes to remain free from any breath of suspicion. Reissued by The Murder Room.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2009 edition
A gothic sequel to The Meaning of Night, in which orphan Esperanza Gorst goes undercover as a lady’s maid — and her own origins trace back to Funchal, Madeira, where part of the narrative is set.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 1980 edition
An elegant satirical fable following Johnny de Paria and his entourage as they flee Trinidad by ocean liner for England — docking at Madeira, where a richly comic set piece unfolds among the island’s society.
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Fiction & Literature
Portuguese · 1992 edition
The acclaimed debut novel (in Portuguese) by Funchal journalist Helena Marques, set in late-19th-century Funchal — the Vaz de Lacerda family and its women across generations. Winner of the Portuguese Writers’ Association Grand Prize.
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Fiction & Literature
Portuguese · 1994 edition
Helena Marques’s second novel (in Portuguese), continuing the search-for-roots theme of O Último Cais as two cousins travel in search of their family’s identity.
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Fiction & Literature
Portuguese · 2014 edition
The collected poems of Funchal-born Herberto Helder (1930–2015), widely regarded as one of the greatest Portuguese poets of the late 20th century.
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Fiction & Literature
Portuguese · 2015 edition
A hybrid prose-and-verse work in which the Funchal-born poet Herberto Helder speaks of his native island of Madeira and his European wanderings.
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Fiction & Literature
Portuguese · 2015 edition
Herberto Helder’s principal book of prose fiction (first published 1963) — short narratives tracing a man’s steps around his own existence in poetically transcendent fragments.
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Fiction & Literature
Portuguese · 2004 edition
A prize-winning poetry collection by Funchal-born poet José Agostinho Baptista, awarded the Portuguese PEN Club and APE poetry prizes in 2004.
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Fiction & Literature
Portuguese · 2000 edition
A volume gathering much of the verse of Funchal-born poet José Agostinho Baptista, including earlier collections such as Morrer no Sul.
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Fiction & Literature
Portuguese · 2016 edition
A novel by Funchal-born writer Ana Teresa Pereira on identity, memory and marriage — winner of the 2017 Oceanos Prize for Portuguese-language literature.
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Fiction & Literature
English · 2022 edition
The English translation of the first Comissário Avila “Madeira-Krimi” — a young woman is found dead at the island’s elite golf club, and a detective hunts a killer among Madeira’s high society.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2021 edition
The first in the atmospheric German “Madeira-Krimi” series — melancholy Comissário Torres and a German crime writer investigate when a hiker is murdered with poisoned Madeira honey-cake.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2022 edition
The second Comissário Torres “Madeira-Krimi” — crime writer Laura Flemming returns to the island to write and is again drawn into a murder.
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German · 2025 edition
A German crime-series opener: Rodrigo “Figo” Figueira, once a celebrated detective in Germany, returns broken to his native Madeira and must solve his first case there.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2017 edition
The German original of the Comissário Avila series — the Funchal homicide chief’s first case (translated into English as “Madeira Grave”).
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2019 edition
Comissário Avila’s second case: as an Atlantic storm bears down, the body of a tourist washes up in Funchal harbour.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2020 edition
The third Comissário Avila “Madeira-Krimi”, set again in Funchal and across the flower island.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2016 edition
A cosy “Madeira-Krimi”: Hamburg café owner Pauline Boysen plans a walking-and-snorkelling holiday on Madeira and stumbles into a murder along the levadas.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2013 edition
A young woman flees to her family’s lighthouse house on Madeira and, among old letters, uncovers the story of two sisters who loved the same man between the wars.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2022 edition
A historical saga: in 1914 a Bremen lung specialist takes up a post helping build a German hospital on Madeira, the “floating garden of the Atlantic”.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2015 edition
After a devastating loss, a Berlin journalist escapes to the flower island of Madeira, where a blind painter and a conservationist open new perspectives on life.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 1997 edition
The German edition of Helena Marques’s prize-winning “O Último Cais” — a saga of bold women in 19th-century Madeira, based on her great-grandfather’s logbook.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2024 edition
A romance: after a painful break-up, sommelière Charlie starts over on her dream island of Madeira and clashes with her charming new boss at a vineyard.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2017 edition
A short German romance: successful writer Manuel returns to his native Madeira after fourteen years and reunites with Isabel, now an orchid gardener rooted in the island.
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German · 2016 edition
A German romance interweaving a woman’s new beginning with a historical thread about Empress Elisabeth of Austria’s stay on Madeira.
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Fiction & Literature
German · 2016 edition
A German novella: in an airport lounge the narrator notices a woman whose movements stir memories — and on Madeira, in the same hotel, a gripping story unfolds.
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Memoir & Living
English · 2023 edition
A travel memoir blending poetry, prose, diaries and photographs, told through the eyes of a Portuguese-Canadian rediscovering his roots across Funchal, Câmara de Lobos, Curral das Freiras and beyond.
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Memoir & Living
English · 2019 edition
The memoir of Maria Mendonça, who grew up in the 1960s–70s in one of Madeira’s remotest villages — no gas, electricity, running water or proper road — recorded over daily teatimes by her employer to preserve a vanishing world.
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Memoir & Living
English · 2020 edition
Inspired by a 1909 classic, Tony Powell — who divides his time between the UK and Madeira — introduces 21st-century island life: Funchal, the mountains, holy days and the world-famous gardens, contrasting the Madeira of 1909 with today.
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Memoir & Living
English · 2024 edition
A practical, firsthand relocation handbook for moving to Madeira — visas, bank accounts, transport, finding and renovating property, starting a business and navigating Portuguese bureaucracy, with insights from many expatriates.
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Memoir & Living
English · 2025 edition
A practical step-by-step relocation handbook from the founder of Portugalist — visas (incl. the D7 and D8 digital-nomad routes), residency, tax, property and healthcare, with island coverage including Madeira.
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Memoir & Living
German · 2017 edition
A German memoir of how a first Madeira holiday became the dream of island life — levada walks and the everyday hurdles of moving abroad, met with humour.
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Food & Cooking
English · 2015 edition
A comprehensive cookbook of more than 185 classic Portuguese recipes spanning the Azores, Madeira and the mainland — including Madeiran specialities such as wine-and-garlic beef espetada — with full-colour photography.
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Food & Cooking
English · 2023 edition
Authentic Portuguese home recipes from the Alentejo plus the Azores and Madeira — salads, garlic-and-wine braises, seafood, breads and desserts — with full-colour photography.
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Food & Cooking
Portuguese · 2022 edition
A Portuguese-language collection of traditional Madeiran recipes — soups, fish, meat, breads, desserts and the island’s renowned baking — by Agostinho Vieira.
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Food & Cooking
Portuguese · 2014 edition
A Portuguese-language book on traditional Madeiran cooking, with 30+ regional recipes (including bolo do caco and bolo de mel) and notes on the island’s food history.
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Food & Cooking
Portuguese · 2000 edition
A Portuguese-language collection of traditional Madeiran recipes by Júlio Pereira, gathering the island’s regional dishes.
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Food & Cooking
Portuguese · 2018 edition
A handsomely designed Portuguese-language book of traditional Madeiran dishes — starters, soups, fish, meat and desserts — with photography.
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Photography
English · 2024 edition
A photographic coffee-table book capturing Madeira — from dramatic cliffs and misty mountain trails to vibrant coastal villages — as a largely text-free visual tour of the island.
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Photography
English · 2025 edition
A curated coffee-table photo book of 39 full-colour photographs capturing the soul of Madeira, from the flower-lined streets of Funchal’s Old Town to the ridges of Pico do Arieiro.
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Photography
English · 2025 edition
A text-free coffee-table collection of 40 full-colour photographs offering a pure visual escape into Madeira’s wonders — its unique levadas, waterfalls and botanical landscapes.
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Start with a practical travel guide for itineraries and places to visit. If you plan to walk regularly, add a dedicated walking guide for route descriptions and maps. Our first-time visitor reading list brings these together.
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