EBOOK

Departing at Dawn

A Novel of Argentina's Dirty War

Gloria Lisé
5
(1)
Pages
160
Year
2019
Language
English

About

March 23, 1976. Berta watches horrified as her lover, a union organizer named Atilio, is thrown from a window to his death by soldiers. The next day, Colonel Jorge Rafael Videla stages a coup d'état and a military dictatorship takes control of Argentina. And even though she was never a part of Atilio's union efforts, Berta is on a list to be "disappeared." Fleeing to relatives in the countryside, she becomes part of the family she knows only from old photographs: Aunt Avelina, who blasts music from an old record player; Uncle Nepomuceno, who watches slugs slither in the garden every afternoon; and Uncle Javier, who sits in his tiny grocery store day and night. But soon enough, Berta realizes she must run even further to save her life-and those she has come to love.

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Reviews

"[A] quiet, powerful novel… With graceful writing… Lisé sketches Berta's quest for autonomy and self against the vivid, violent backdrop of a country seeking the same."
Publishers Weekly
"It never ceases to astound me how many people around the world choose to deny a dark period in the history of their respective nations. Anyone anywhere today in need of the reminder that political change begins with speaking out should read this testimony."
Ana Castillo, author of Massacre of the Dreamers
"Immense human depth and a high quality of writing."
David William Foster, author of Violence in Argentine Literature

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