A Boy Is Not A Ghost by Edeet Ravel

In this sequel to A Boy Is Not A Bird, the saga of Natt Silver continues. Natt and his mother have been deported from their home in Zastavna to Siberia. It is the summer of 1941 and twelve-year-old Natt and his mother have been on a train for six weeks and two days. They finally arrive in Novosibirsk, Siberia, a city of four hundred thousand people where they are given soft bread, a steam bath, and their clothes are disinfected. Natt along with the other deportees is taken to a school with a fenced in schoolyard. On his fourth day in the schoolyard, Natt meets a boy and a girl who live in Novosibirsk, near the fence. The girl is Olga who who has been studying ballet and her brother Peter who wants to be a chemist. Olga tells Natt that her mother is a translator for the government. Natt and Olga form a connection over their mutual love of ballet and Beethoven and at Natt's request, she gives him her address..

Later that night, Natt helps a young mother named Felicia escape into the village with her baby. She has a distant cousin who has offered to help her, giving her a chance for her baby to survive. In exchange for this, Natt comes into possession of emerald earrings. Their group now consists of Natt and his mother, Elias and Cecilia and little Shainie and Irena, the young school teacher who joined the deportees in the hope of finding her mother.'

After a few days in Novosibirsk, their group along with most of the other deportees are shipped on three enormous barges north on the Ob River. A week into their trip, they detour to Tomsk and then continue up the Ob where every day a small group of "settlers" are let off. Natt and his mother are taken off the barge at Porotnikov where they are told at the Community House that they've been exiled for twenty years. There they manage to find lodging in a third of the kitchen of a house owned by a couple and their six or seven children.

Natt's Mama and Irena are forced to dig out tree stumps for eleven hours a day. Natt finds himself constantly hungry. But things get even worse when his mother is tricked into stealing a few potatoes and is arrested. His mother is taken to the jail in Bakchar. Irena manages to get a clerk job in Bakchar and she and Natt quickly pack to hitch a ride with a farmer. Irena had promised Natt's mother she would look after him. They are able to rent a whole room to themselves that has a stove, a bed, cot, table and two stools in Bakchar.

The next day Natt meets a girl while on a walk at the beach. She speaks Romanian and offers him some soft cheese. He learns her name is Gabriella and she is only three months away from being twelve. Irena returns that night with a bag full of food. She tells Natt that she attended his mother's trial and that she's been sentenced to a year in jail in Tomsk.

But barely three weeks into his stay in Bakchar, Natt is faced with more changes. He learns that Irena who is Polish, is now free to go wherever she wants, and she plans to move to Moscow in the hopes of eventually reuniting with her parents. Natt is faced with the difficult decision of whether he should leave with Irena and be thousands of  kilometers from his mother or stay and be on his own in a city where he knows no one. The choice he ultimately makes nearly costs him his life but in the end, the prediction of the fortune teller comes to pass.

Discussion

As Ravel has previously indicated, the events in her first novel, A Boy Is Not A Bird and in this sequel, A Boy Is Not A Ghost  are based on the real life experiences of her fifth-grade teacher, Nahum Halpern. Although some of the characters in these novels are fictional, Nahum really did experience many of the events Ravel describes in her books. Some of the real life events include Natt's travel on the barge up the Ob River, his winter in Porotnikova, living with the Mindrus, the sleigh ride and his serious illness that forced him into hospital. Also real are the people who helped Natt survive his ordeal in Siberia, including Yuri, Sima Israelovna, and the two NKVD officers. 

In A Boy Is Not A Ghost, Natt becomes so traumatized by the repeated hardships and sense of loss that the only way he can survive is, as he puts it, to become a ghost. Becoming invisible, suppressing his feelings and withdrawing into himself offer him a way to cope with what he is experiencing. After surviving a brutal train ride into the heart of Siberia and experiencing every deprivation, Natt is unprepared to cope with the arrest of his mother. When his mother is jailed and he and Irena move to Bakchar to be near her, Natt states, "I stare at the passing trees in a daze. I'm starting to feel like a ghostly spirit, drifting from place to place. Every day I'm becoming more invisible and less solid. Solid kids have homes. Imaginary kids have imaginary homes." 

Just as things settle, Natt learns he will be losing Irena. As she struggles to find someone to take Natt in, he begins to feel numb. It isn't until he recovers from his illness at the Mindru's after being given the "water cure" for his fever that Natt begins to feel again. He notes that "It seems the water cure has woken up my emotions. I begin to cry and I don't even try to stop." He is comforted by Gabi who tells him they love him and that he has friends who love him.

Although Natt is cared for by the Mindrus and loses the feeling that he is a ghost,  when he receives a letter from his mother written in code, telling him that she and Natt's father are planning their escape from Siberia, he believes he must return to being a ghost again. "I also have to practice not calling attention to myself, so that when I do slip away, no one will notice, like Felicia when she stepped into the dark. I have to practice being a ghost again."

Being a ghost though is conflicting for Natt. After attending Mr. Goldman's clandestine Hanukkah party, Natt remembers past celebrations but this has mixed blessings. "I decide that remembering is both the best thing and the worst thing, but that you have to remember. If you don't remember, you really are a ghost." When Natt obtains his travel pass to Tomsk he believes he must be like a warplane that flies very low to avoid being detected by radar. "That's what I have to do. Fly low. I need to be very boring, very small, nearly invisible." After Natt and his mother finally arrive in Moscow, he begins to feel that he has become a nobody, a ghost. He is humiliated and ashamed of how he and his mother look. "All this time, trying to be invisible, trying to be a nobody -- I suddenly feel as if I really have turned into a nobody...What if I'm not just a nobody, but a disgusting, stinky nobody."

Ultimately it is Olga and Peter and their father Edward who welcome them into their home, and who begin Natt on the path towards reclaiming his identity. Olga tells him she loves him because he's interesting and kind and not bitter about all the hardships he's endured. To Natt's surprise, he discovers he is not a ghost after all.

It's difficult to comprehend the hardships people in Eastern Europe endured under both Nazi and Soviet occupation, especially under Stalin. A Boy Is Not A Ghost succeeds in portraying to readers these unimaginable hardships in a way that is realistic but also with a touch of humour for so serious a topic. It's important that experiences like those of Nahum Halpern not be forgotten because they help us understand how important it is to preserve the freedoms we often take for granted in Canada.

Ravel has included a map showing the locale of the story, an Author's Note and a detailed Historical Background that touches on Russia during the rule of the Czars, World War II, Stalin and the post war period. Another excellent novel by Canadian author Edeet Ravel.

Book Details:

A Boy Is Not A Ghost by Edeet Ravel
Toronto: Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press   2021
239 pp.

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

The Hiding Place is a moving account of a Dutch family's work in the underground to save Jews during the Holocaust. It is considered a classic in Christian literature today.

Cornelia Ten Boom was the youngest daughter of Casper ten Boom and Cornelia Johanna Arnolda Luitingh. Corrie as she came to be called, was born on April 15, 1892. The ten Boom family was comprised of three older surviving children; Elizabeth who was called Betsie, Willem, and Arnolda Johanna known as Nollie. The ten Boom family belonged to the Dutch Reformed church and were very devout.

Strongly believing that the world should know the story of what happened in Holland, Corrie wrote about her family's experiences in The Hiding Place. In the book, the story begins with her family's party celebrating the 100th anniversary of their watchmaking and repair shop located in Haarlem. The shop had been founded by her grandfather Willem ten Boom. It is 1937, only a few years before the horror that will soon consume Europe and come to be known as the Holocaust. Corrie is forty-five years old, her older sister Betsie is fifty-two.

In celebration of their anniversary, the shop and family home begins filling with bouquets of flowers from friends and patrons. In addition to Nollie and Willem attending, both of whom now have their own homes, the family is visited by many people including the mayor of Haarlem, the postman and policemen.

Soon talk at the party turns to the worsening situation in Germany with the arrival of Willem who is accompanied by a dazed and injured young Jewish man. Willem, who runs a home for elderly Jews in Hilversum tells Corrie and her family that the man, Herr Gutlieber whose lower face is badly burned was set on fire by boys in Munich. He managed to flee Germany on a milk truck, arriving this morning in Hilversum.

Corrie remembers that Willem had been studying what was going on in Germany for years. In 1927 he wrote about the unprecedented "contempt for human life" that was growing in the country. He noted the German clockmakers who were suddenly and mysteriously no longer open for business and that they were all Jewish.

There are more signs that things in Germany are deteriorating when Corrie's father hires a young German apprentice named Otto to work at the shop. A member of the Hitler Youth, Otto comes only once to listen to Corrie's family's nightly reading of the scriptures. The Old Testament, according to Otto, "is the Jews' 'Book of Lies' ". Soon the ten Booms learn of other disturbing events. Otto's landlady discovers a large knife in his bed. But it is Otto's cruel treatment of the old clockmender, Christoffels that moves Corrie's father to fire him. Willem reveals that Germany is teaching its young people not to value the elderly who they consider to "have no value to the state."

War comes to Holland in 1940 with the invasion of the country by Germany. For five days the country's army attempts to fight off the Nazis but eventually they are overwhelmed and surrender, with the Queen fleeing to England.

At first life in occupied Holland is little changed except for the late curfew, the presence of German soldiers, and the takeover of the Dutch press which prints German propaganda. At night Corrie and her family listen to the aerial dogfights between the English and German planes, as Germany uses Holland as a launching point for the bombing of England.

But gradually the true horror of the occupation begins to creep into daily life. Minor attacks on Dutch Jews grow into bolder attacks and outright discrimination. Parks, libraries, restaurants and theatres all ban Jews who are now required to wear the six point Jewish star on their clothing. People begin to disappear, as evidenced by the unclaimed watches in the ten Boom shop.

Corrie and Betsie and their father begin to discuss how they might have to help their Jewish neighbours. That chance comes much sooner than expected, in November of 1941. One day Corrie and Betsie watch as German soldiers ransack Weil's Furriers, ordering Mr. Weil out of his store at gunpoint, ransacking their apartment and stealing their furs. Needing to find a safe place for Mr. Weil and make sure his wife knows not to return home from Amsterdam, Corrie takes the train to Willem in Hilversum. With the help of Willem's son Kik, they find a safe place for the Weils.

As the situation for Dutch Jews worsens, Corrie and her family become increasingly involved in helping them. And their efforts of resistance do not go unnoticed. On Sunday, May 10, 1942, Peter, who is the organist at the Dutch Reformed church in Velsen, plays an inspiring rendition of the Dutch national anthem, Wilhelmus, which has been forbidden by the Nazis. He is arrested in the evening. Each evening, the ten Booms found Dutch Jews making their way to their alley door, all in need of a hiding place from the Nazis. Hoping to get help from Willem, Corrie is told that he now is being watched all the time and that it is better if she seeks out her own resources to help those coming to her. 

Needing ration cards for the Jews who come to the Beje, Corrie seeks out Fred Koornstra who used to read the electric meter at the Beje. As the needs grow, Corrie begins to realize that they are friends with half of Haarlem: nurses and clerks and people in almost all the businesses. She would trust God to lead her to the people who could help. But the real break comes when Kik takes her to a meeting of the "underground" There "Pickwick" whose real name was Herman Sluring, introduces Corrie to a man, whom she only ever knew as Mr. Smit - the name used by all members of the underground - who told her she needed a secret room. This "Mr. Smit" would turn out to be one of Europe's finest architects and it was he who built the "hiding place" in the ten Boom's home.

As the hunt for Holland's Jews intensifies, Corrie and her family find they are taking more and more risks. Soon this dangerous work will cost some their freedom, others, their lives. Their faith in God and his providence are their guiding light through the darkest of times.

Discussion

The Hiding Place is much more than just a recounting of one family's experiences during the Nazi occupation of Holland. It is much more than a memoir of Dutch resistance. It is a testament to Christian faith acted upon in a time of great evil. Corrie and Betsie were determined to follow God's will in everything in their lives, sometimes at great cost to themselves and those they loved.

Corrie became an integral part of the Dutch underground, obtaining ration cards, helping Jews to safe houses and even allowing the Beje to undergo renovations creating a secret room. Willem was involved in hiding Jews, along with his son Kik. There was never any question in Corrie and her family's minds as to whether they would help their Jewish neighbours. Service was already an integral part of their lives. It was only a matter of how. Their Christian faith demanded nothing less.

The ten Boom family's life was framed and informed entirely by their Christian faith. Casper ten Boom read scripture to the family at 8:30 in the morning before beginning his work in the watch shop and at night before bed, asking "God's blessing on us through the night." Their mother visited the sick and the poor, "cooking and sewing for the needy in the neighborhood...". Every event in their lives was informed by their Dutch Reformed Protestant faith. For example,  Corrie accompanied her mother who was visiting a young mother whose newborn baby had just died. This experience of death haunted Corrie and she became so distraught that later at home she was unable to eat dinner. Her fear was for the death of her father, Mama and her sister Betsie. Her father uses this moment to impart some of his faith and wisdom, reminding Corrie that he gives her the train ticket just before boarding, when travelling to Amsterdam. "...And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need -- just in time."

L to R: Nollie, Corrie, Casper, Cornelia, Willem and Betsie

Life was lived in service to others in the ten Boom household and Corrie's mother and aunts were exemplary in that regard. Corrie mentions the numerous ways her mother and aunts served their friends and neighbours. Her mother is described as having knit "caps and baby dresses", "composing cheery messages for shutins" When Tante Jans is diagnosed with diabetes, then a terminal illness, she decides to spend what time is left for her, organizing a center for the soldiers, writing and fund raising. When her disease progresses and she has only weeks left, Tante Jans is distraught because she believes she has not done enough in her life to merit salvation. Her worry shows how important service to others was in the ten Boom family and had been for generations.

Perhaps Corrie's birth on Good Friday, April 15, 1892 was a sign of what was to come. She was not expected to survive but she did and grew up to be a woman with strong Christian principles. During an aerial battle over their city, Corrie experienced a premonition in the form of a vision about her family.

While praying for their country as the Nazi invasion began, Corrie experienced this following terrifying vision. "Then as I watched, a kind of odd, old farm wagon -- old fashioned and out of place in the middle of a city -- came lumbering across the square pulled by four enormous black horses. To my surprise I saw that I myself was sitting in the wagon. And Father too! And Betsie! There were many others, some strangers, some friends. I recognized Pickwick and Toos, Willem and young Peter. All together we were slowly being drawn across the square behind those horses. We couldn't get off the wagon, that was the terrible thing. It was taking us away -- far away, I felt -- but we didn't want to go...." At the time Corrie had no idea what the vision could possibly mean, but years later, when she, her sister Betsie, Peter, Nollie, Pickwick and her father are taken away after a raid on her house, Corrie remembers the dream. It was a warning, perhaps to help her prepare for what was to come.

As the occupation continued, Corrie was deeply conflicted as to how they would work in the underground given the rumours about the types of resistance involved. "The rumors tended to get more spectacular with each repetition. But always they featured things we believed were wrong in the sight of God. Stealing, lying, murder. Was this what God wanted in times like these? How should a Christian act when evil was in power?"

It is something that Corrie and her family struggled with as the months went by. After a search by German soldiers for young men for forced work, the family argued over whether it was permissible to lie to protect someone. While Nollie believed that "God honors truth-telling with perfect protection!" as her daughter Corky had just done. But Corrie is not so certain.

The title of Corrie's autobiography is more than just a reference to the secret room in the Beje. It is also a spiritual reference, one Corrie did not realize until she was in prison. Watching ants hiding in the wall of her cell Corrie understands the significance of having a special safe place in Christ. "And suddenly I realized that this too was a message, ...For I too had a hiding place when things were bad. Jesus was this place, the Rock cleft for me..." Later on while suffering from edema in the hospital at Ravensbruck, Corrie wonders what if....and then remembers, "There are no 'ifs' in God's kingdom. I could hear her soft voice saying it. His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in your will...."

This touching account is well worth reading, not only for the heroic efforts of the ten Booms, but more for the remarkable spiritual gems contained within.

To learn more about the ten Boom family The Corrie ten Boom House website (https://www.corrietenboom.com/en/family-ten-boom) has many interesting details.

ten Book family image: https://renovare.org/articles/this-too-is-in-his-hands

Book Details:

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
Crossing Classics
228 pp.

The Disappeared by Gloria Whelan

Silvia Diaz and her brother Eduardo live with their parents, Dr. Arturo Diaz and his wife, Adela in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their story is told in alternating chapters as "letters" written in past tense, that neither will ever read. 

It is 1977. Although the electric plant workers have been staging blackouts to protest wage cuts, that night Eduardo knew that their darkened neighbourhood meant the police were coming. Their father had just returned home from the hospital when the police forced their way in, handcuffing Eduardo and placing a hood over his head. The masked men searched his room, taking away his books and left with Eduardo. 

Before the arrival of the guerrillas and then the generals, life was very different for Silvia's family. Silvia and Eduardo played in the city's parks "...decorated with their pink and purple bougainvillea blossoms...", visited the zoo with its penguins, lions, and a white tiger, and took in operas at the Teatro Colon. Silvia and Eduardo also visited the planetario with Father. But then things changed.

One spring day, the military police came to Silvia's father's hospital and took away Jacobo Solanas who oversaw the hospital's psychiatric services. He was taken in for questioning because the generals believed Dr. Solanas's patients are telling him secrets that may be dangerous to the state. Eduardo was furious at his father whom he felt should fight against the generals who are taking away their freedoms. But Eduardo's father told him he is a doctor who has "...taken an oath to heal the sick..." and that if he is jailed that would not help either his patients nor his family. This didn't satisfy Eduardo who was determined to go to the hospital with his friends to protest. However his father warned him not to do this. 

The prospect that her father might be arrested was very terrifying for Silvia. So she and her friends, Rosa and Isabela decided to act as though nothing was happening. They rode their bikes on the Palermo Viejo's bike paths, shopped for jeans on Florida Street, and ate ice cream cones sprinkled with granizados at the heladerias. They went to the Alvear Palace Hotel for tea in their party dresses and slipped into the discos to dance all night. It was at a disco that Silvia met Norberto Lopez, son of General Lopez. It was Isabela who told Silvia who she was dancing with: General Lopez  had shut down the university papers and arrested professors, possibly Eduardo's favourite, Professor Bustamante. Silvia managed to leave the disco without giving Norberto her phone number. 

Eduardo chastised Silvia for ignoring what was going on. Silvia believed they were powerless and that they should go on with their lives. She wanted to have fun in her final year before attending university. While Silvia and her friends browsed booths at the Feriade San Telmo on Sundays, and wandered in the part, Eduardo became more involved with protests and meetings. He was determined to remember those who had been arrested and never seen again -- the people referred to as "Los Desaparecidos or The Disappeared. Eduardo helped the children whose parents had disappeared. But his actions angered their father who told him he was endangering all of them. The situation put everyone on edge. And then finally the police came for Eduardo.

While Silvia and her mother sat in the livingroom trying to drink tea and clinging to each other, her father set about meeting with lawyers. Meanwhile Silvia attempted to warn Eduardo's friends, Cesar and Maria, but was too late for the latter - she was chupada. Silvia's father went first to the general in the military, then to the municipal police and finally to their bishop. No one was willing to help. But a young priest, Fr. Paul told Silvia's father that a small group of priests was working to get information about the Los Desaparecidos. Silvia's father gave Fr. Paul the picture of Eduardo. Even a woman who Silvia's mother knew through her poetry and who belonged to an international commission on human rights was unable to help, because the Argentinean government was unco-operative.

During this time Silvia's family learned nothing about Eduardo but more about the many missing. Desperate to secure her brother's freedom, Silvia decided to return to the disco where she met Norberto Lopez, the son of the famous general, with the goal of making him care so much for her that he would be willing to ask his father to free Eduardo. But little did Silvia know about Norberto, his family, and how her plan would place everyone in her family in even more danger.

Discussion

The Disappeared is a short novel that portrays life in 1977 Argentina under the rule of General Jorge Rafael Videla.  In 1974, Isabel Peron, the third wife of General Juan Domingo Peron, became president of Argentina, following his death. General Peron had been in exile for decades until he returned to Argentina in 1973, in an attempt to reunite the country. However, during Isabel Peron's tenure, Argentina was beset by economic instability. 

In 1976, a military coup on March 29 resulted in General Jorge Rafael Videla becoming president of Argentina. His military junta banned political parties and unions, instituted strict censorship and dissolved the Argentina's National Congress and began a period of systematic repression. This took the form of the kidnapping and disappearance of tens of thousands of people, including students, artists, journalists, writers, trade unionist, and anyone who was believed to be against the government. These came to be known as Los Desaparecidos or "The Disappeared" and this period as "the Dirty War". The military dictatorship especially targeted university students and professors, anyone aligned with leftist ideology, religious who sought social justice, and trade unions advocating for workers' rights. Those abducted were never formally charged, had no access to legal representation, and were physically tortured and subjected to psychological abuse. Most disappeared never to be seen again, some were release. 

Democratic rule was restored in 1983 due to economic collapse and the defeat of Argentina in the Falklands War with the election of Raul Alfonsin. A law granting amnesty to Videla and others, was repealed and they were prosecuted and convicted human rights violations. 

The Disappeared focuses on the experiences of one fictional family, the Diazs who become victims of the violence that is engulfing Argentina during the Videla regime. Whelan tells their story from the point of view of Silvia and her older brother Eduardo using "letters" they write to one another but which they know will never be read. 

Silva's letters tell of her effort to secure the release of Eduardo who has been arrested. Silva's narrative explores the situation in Argentinean society during this time, who is aiding the government and who are protesting what is happening. The authorities will not help those families with missing persons: the municipal police tell Silvia's father that Eduardo was likely kidnapped by guerrillas, while the military police claim the military would never enter homes and that Eduardo is to blame for supporting those who oppose the government. The bishop blames Eduardo "...who should have chosen better friends". However, there are priests who want to help the families of the missing, as Eduardo's father learns.

Silvia's letters to Eduardo also describe the mothers who march around the pyramid that was built at the  center at the Palza de Mayo, outside the Casa Rosada where General Videla, president of Argentina resides. They are  there daily to "protest the disappearance of their loved ones".  The women are also marching for the other kidnappings, "Babies and even young children are taken from parents who are arrested." Silvia learns of a young mother whose baby is taken from her at birth, her whereabouts unknown: the mother who has lost not only a daughter but a granddaughter too.  The children are taken from parents who are protesting the government and given to patriotic and military families. 

Silvia's narrative seeks to portray the callousness and dissociation of those in charge through the character of Norberto Lopez. Silvia is shocked to see all the birds he collects and imprisons in cages - a metaphor for the people his father is locking up in the country's prisons. She is especially distressed to see a great egret crammed into a cage so small it can only "...dance a bit from side to side." When Silvia questions Norberto as to why he has them in cages he tells her they are safer in the cages than in the wild. In response to Silvia suggesting they would rather be free, Norberto tells her "What do they know about being free? They're only birds. My father says freedom is overrated." When Norberto tells Silvia that sometimes liberty must be sacrificed to bring order to a country, she realizes that like his father, General Lopez, Norberto places little value on freedom. Later, in an act of defiance and in defense of freedom, Silvia loosens the latch on the cage so that the egret will be able to escape. The egret is a metaphor for the people of Argentina, forced into jails, by a government that places little value on freedom.

Eduardo's letters focus on his experience in prison: the conditions of his cell, his torture and his struggle to not name those involved in the protests at the university. He describes his incarceration as  being "...in the country of fear..." Placed in a small room with the light always on, Eduardo can hear "...screams from a nearby room". As Eduardo reflects on how he came to be arrested he feels he had no choice but to protest. " We can't live in a country where everyone is suspected and everyone is at risk. They tell writers what they can put in their books. They say this book must go and that one. A book that tells the truth about what is happening to Argentina is not allowed." It was when the soldiers took away Professor Bustamante who taught in the experiment psychology department. Eduardo describes how he was ensnared by a man named "the Jackal" who wanted him to punish his friend Ramon Fratelli's family. He claimed Ramon was a traitor to those protesting and that Eduardo's mission was to place a bomb in the Fratelli's home. Ramon had been arrested for protesting and Eduardo knew this was a trap but he had already given the man his essays about bringing down the government. 

Each morning Eduardo is tortured by General Remos. He is beaten with a truncheon, is tortured with the picana - an electric cattle prod. A doctor examines Eduardo to ensure that the torture is not killing him. The doctor's betrayal of his vows to do no harm haunt Eduardo who has seen his own father help others. "That a doctor would aid the generals destroys all my hope. If they have the power to seduce a doctor to do the very opposite of what his profession calls for, they have more power than even I thought..." Still Eduardo continues to resist. Although he learns that his friend Ramon may be in the cell next to him - he cannot be sure as it may be a trick to get him to divulge information, Eduardo struggles to not give any information. Eduardo's letters reveal just how repeated torture weaken even the most determined. Fortunately Eduardo is freed before this happens. The novel ends with the Diaz family being exiled to Spain. This was the fate of thousands of Argentinians during the Dirty War. Many of the exiles which included dissidents, activists and the children  and families of the "disappeared" built lives in Spain. How realistic it would be for a political prisoner like Eduardo and his family to be exiled is uncertain.

All of the characters in the novel are ficticious except for General Videla. There isn't much character development, instead the characters narrate the events they experience, portraying some of what is happening during one year of the Dirty War. Dr. Arturo and Adela Diaz are focused on trying to stay unnoticed by the government, as are Silvia and her friends. However, through these characters the novel suggests that it almost impossible to bargain with evil. It must be confronted, something Eduardo does at great personal cost. Silvia too learns this with her plan to manipulate the son of General Lopez into asking for Eduardo's freedom. Although her actions show her great love for her brother, they also reveal her naivete regarding the personal risk. She is fortunate that the wife of General Lopez is able to save her, and ultimately her family.

This short novel offers a readers a general overview of the events of one year of the Dirty War using fictional characters. It would be interesting to read a novel that offers a more in-depth treatment of this mostly forgotten historical event.

Book Details:

The Disappeared by Gloria Whelan
New York: Speak
136pp.