Spanish / Argentina
Los que volvieron
(The ones who returned)
Averbach, Márgara
(text)
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, [2016]. – 180 p.
(Series: Sudamericana Joven Novela)
ISBN 978-950-07-5252-7
Argentina | History 1970s | History 2003 | Military dictatorship
Reading age: 12+
White Ravens issue: 2017
Violence and tyranny leave behind wounds and scars. These only heal when victims receive justice, have their identity and dignity restored, and are protected from being forgotten. In her newest novel, inspired by a real event in 2003, Márgara Averbach shows that often it is only the subsequent generation who first tends to these tasks. The novel is about five students who, animated by their history class, want to find out who is buried in the anonymous grave in their town’s cemetery. After researching in archives and libraries, it becomes clear that the buried bones belong to a woman and a man who were murdered during the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). The novel connects different temporal planes, perspectives and experiences, by joining individual voices – of the students, witnesses, of the victims’ kin, and of the victims themselves – into a multi-voiced choir. The book demonstrates that society bears a great responsibility for the fate of individuals.