This novel is one of my all-time favorites, and while I couldn’t put it down, I was extremely sad when it was over. Divided into three parts and spanning over three generations of women, each section features one of the three Firielli women: Pajarita, Eva and Salomé including their upbringings, their loves, losses, struggles and immense strength that allowed them to forge on, uniting them. While this book is not a romance, it shows the love and devotion that these women had for their family and beyond. We start with Pajarita and how she went from a woman living in the middle of nowhere in Uruguay, meets an Italian man who asks her to be his wife. They move to Montevideo where the real adventures begin. Through that marriage, they start a family and have a few sons and Eva, the only girl. From an early age, she witnesses the disparity between her brothers and her father’s love and affection. This lack of paternal support leads to many poor decisions that affect her life and ultimately, make her part ways and move to Buenos Aires, where she gets married and starts a family of her own. As her story unfolds and we meet her daughter Salomé, the third part picks up where Eva’s life left off, but now revolving around Salomé, showing the differences between her upbringing and Eva’s.
By the time we learn more about Salomé in Part III, the political situation in Uruguay (where most of this novel takes place) is shaky, leading to the emergence of a communist group The Tupamaros, who were proclaimed the “Robin Hoods” of the country. They would rob banks, casinos, kidnap important people all in the name of helping the poor and those affected by the inflation and unemployment assisted by the United States all in efforts to eradicate communism. We see how the group’s actions have consequences and how that plays out during a military dictatorship similar to those of its neighboring countries.
I had heard wonderful things about this novel and tried to find it when I was in Uruguay and not a single bookstore had a copy in stock. While I do love many of this writer’s other books (and have reviewed them in the past), this was by far my favorite. Like Isabel Allende, this was De Robertis’ first book and most beloved, yet difficult to find worldwide. I do wonder if it is because not only this writer is less well-known but also because Uruguay is a much smaller country and has produced fewer copies of books from their in-house writers, even the most famous ones. However, I was able to secure copies in both Spanish and in English (for friends) on Amazon, and therefore I suggest starting there. This book is worth the effort and wait!
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