Departing at Dawn : A Novel of Argentina's Dirty War

by Lise, Gloria

• ISBN13: 9781558616035
• ISBN10: 1558616039
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-08-01
• Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist

Summary

The military take-over of Argentina and the memories of the "disappeared" haunt a women and her nation. 23 March 1976. Berta watches as her lover, Atilio, a union organiser, is thrown from a window to his death on the pavement below. The next day, Colonel Jorge Rafael Videla stages a coup d'eacute;tat and a military dictatorship takes control of Argentina. Though never a part of Atilio's union efforts, Berta is on a list to be "disappeared" and flees to relatives in the countryside. There she becomes part of the family she knows only from old photographs: Aunt Avelina, who blasts records from an old 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. When Berta learns that government officials are still looking for her, she realises she must run even further to save her life. Gloria Liseacute; describes a terrifying period in her nation's history with a touch that is light yet penetrating. A powerful portrait of Argentineans caught up in traumas that have haunted the country ever since.

Author Biography

Gloria Lise is a lawyer and professor at the National University of Salta in Argentina.