There are wounds that do not heal, not even with the passage of time. During the political and social upheaval experienced in Argentina in the early and mid-1970s, tragic events darkened the lives of its citizens who were victims of a government determined to crush any hint of opposition with the use of excessive force.

A couple of decades later, Paloma Larrea, a young student born in Argentina but raised and living in New York, would have to face a shocking truth about her family’s past… and about her own past.

During a meeting in honor of Santiago, her father –a prominent diplomat appointed as the country’s ambassador to the United Nations–, an old girlfriend approaches him and his guests, referring to their combined old memories. He reacts violently and demands that she refrains from bringing those times of trouble into account.

This reaction awakens in Paloma the curiosity to investigate her origins, an intention that comes to fruition on the occasion of a trip to Buenos Aires together with her parents. This is how a chilling plot unfolds with glimpses into a dark time for the South American nation.

The narrative, which throughout the book combines retrospective chapters prior to Paloma’s birth, with the details of her very visit to Argentina as an adult, reveals multiple conflicting emotions. Intense episodes of romance are described, with unfortunate acts of violence in which disappearances, torture and murder were part of everyday life.

Based on a vision focused to the maximum on tying up loose ends, Paloma would relive the horrendous history of the Argentinean «desaparecidos», investigations that lead up to conclusions pointing to a single horizon, hers.

Congratulations to Andrea Yaryura Clark on her magnificent debut as a novelist! A great book was born, undoubtedly!