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The sweep of a century, the hand of history, three women whose lives will never be the same again. As the twentieth century dawns, so begins one of the most dramatic periods in the history of South America. Women are emancipated, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro free Cuba, the Perons take power in Argentina, and three generations of Firielli women are to live, love, and fight for their independence and freedom. Pajarita is the founder of the dynasty, born into a rural village and constantly chafing against its narrow confines. A love-match with a circus performer offers her escape, but she is trapped in a cage of another sort when her husband becomes a monster. Her spirited daughter, Eva, enters a world shaken by revolution. Fleeing childhood abuse, and alienated from her mother, she heads to Buenos Aires, but the glittering circles she moves in cannot erase the memories of her past. Her daughter, Salomé, driven by political passion becomes a guerrilla fighter, but her idealism turns to tragedy when she is captured, and brutalised. From bohemian Buenos Aires to the hills of Rio de Janeiro; from tangos to demonstrations; from the broad sweep of history to the intimate lives of the Fierelli family, THE INVISIBLE MOUNTAIN traverses a changing South America, in which some things - love, family, hope - continue forever.
The Fierelli family dynasty begins with Pajarita's escape from a rural village, setting in motion a multi-generational struggle for autonomy against the backdrop of a volatile South America. Pajarita, her daughter Eva, and her granddaughter Salomé each navigate the shifting political and social landscapes of the twentieth century. While Pajarita seeks freedom from domestic confinement, Eva grapples with the trauma of her upbringing in the urban centers of Argentina, and Salomé commits herself to the dangerous ideals of revolutionary activism. The narrative follows these women as they confront personal demons and the broader forces of history that threaten to dismantle their aspirations and their bonds to one another.
This novel is characterized by its ambitious scope, which attempts to mirror the turbulent history of South America through the lens of a single family. The narrative structure suggests a focus on the cyclical nature of struggle and the persistence of familial ties despite external pressures. Readers likely find the progression from Pajarita’s early century defiance to Salomé’s late-century political radicalism to be a deliberate study in the changing roles of women. The prose appears to prioritize the emotional weight of historical shifts, framing the Fierelli women as both products of their environment and active agents of their own destinies.
Page Count:
400
Publication Date:
2009-08-11
Publisher:
Harper
ISBN-10:
0007302835
ISBN-13:
9780007302833
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