Beyond the Ties of Blood

In the tradition of Isabel Allende, a family saga that explores the lives touched by the tragedies of Chiles vibrant historyImprisoned and tortured in the aftermath of the 1973 coup while her love, Manuel, is savagely murdered, Eugenia Aldunate is a rare survivor of the countless disappeared that would haunt Chiles collective memory for decades. While still in prison, Eugenia discovers she is pregnant and is exiled to Mexico, then the United States to raise her daughter alone, forbidden to return. She builds a quiet life for herself, but the scars on her arms to do not fade. Horrific nightmares plague Eugenia each night, while each morning she aches for her homeland. Nearly twenty years after her exile, Eugenia is called back to Chile to testify in Manuels murder and seek justice for the others who disappeared. A rare living witness to these camps, Eugenia must come to grips with the legacy of violence and trauma inflicted by Pinochets dictatorship and find truth and solace in the stories of those she left behind. In the tradition of Kiran Desais The Inheritance of Loss and Julia Alvarezs In the Time of Butterflies, Beyond the Ties of Blood is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit and the transcendence of family.