REVIEW: A Flower Travelled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland

 

I remember hearing about the abuelas in my Spanish classes so when I saw this book, I requested it from my library. This  book tells the story of the women  who spent years looking for answers regarding the disappearances of their children and for the whereabouts of their grandchildren. They spent decades piecing together evidence and clues regarding their whereabouts and to date, have found approximately 140 grandchildren.

The central figure in this narrative is Rosa Rosinblitt, who died at 106 by the way, whose daughter Patricia and son in law Jose became one of the disappeared in 1978. Gen. Jorge Videla and his junta targeted them for their role in a subversive group that had been protesting his very brutal regime. Gilliland weaves many other stories of many other families into the narrative and also provides us with a history of the coups and political climate when this was all going on. She does so in  a way that breaks down the extreme complexities of the climate in which the abuelas were operating in.  

The best parts of this book were the stories of the individual players involved in investigating the disappearances. I loved learning about them and their hopes and struggles in both finding family members and then reuniting. While I understand and appreciate the historical narrative and explanation of the political climate in Argentina, those parts were less interesting to me, although I learned a lot from them.  This is, also, very much a book filled with hope and, ultimately, finding joy in reunification in spite of a terribly horrific situation.  

Definitely a must read.