It is there that Victor meets one of the del Solars’ daughters, Ofelia. Yet at the urging of their trusted housekeeper, Juana Nancucheo, Isidoro invites the Dalmaus to their Christmas celebration. His parents, Isidoro and Laura, are conservative and sympathetic to Franco, not the refugees whom they consider to be atheists and communists. Impressed with Victor and Roser, Felipe del Solar, who is young and progressive at this time, opens his home to them. Once in Chile, their lives intersect with the wealthy del Solar family. From the beginning, though, Victor is committed to caring for Marcel and Roser. Over time, their marriage of convenience becomes one of love. Told they must be a family to get passage, Victor and Roser marry in name only for Marcel’s sake. With no place for them in France, Victor and Roser seek refuge on the poet Pablo Neruda’s ship of hope, the Winnipeg, bound for Chile. As a medic, Victor has leeway to escape his camp and finds Roser. With the help of a friend of Victor, Roser is allowed to leave the camp and safely gives birth to a boy, Marcel. Victor meets the same fate when he leaves Spain with the last of the wounded. In France, they receive no welcome and are instead placed in concentration camps. Aitor gets Roser and himself across the border under dangerous winter conditions, but Carme, who feared she was slowing their progress, slipped away from them early in the trip.
When it becomes obvious that the Republican forces have no chance of victory against Francisco Franco’s right-wing forces, Victor asks his friend Aitor Ibarra to take his mother Carme and Roser, who is pregnant with Guillem’s child, to France.
As a medic serving on the front lines of battle, Victor must stay in Spain until the bitter end of the war. Roser was in love with Victor’s brother Guillem, who died fighting for the Republican cause. Victor and Roser’s marriage begins as one of convenience, not love. Originally Catalonian Spanish, Victor and Roser become Chilean. Their story explains what it means to belong to family and community. Ultimately, the pair return to Chile, where they have made their home when the political atmosphere allows it. Both times, reactionary forces overturned democratically elected leaders via force, and Victor and Roser stood with democracy.
Exiled from Spain in 1939, Victor and Roser are again exiled from their home in Chile years later. Through their relationship, Victor and Roser expose the true meaning of love, as their love for each other strengthens throughout their lives.
Beginning in the last years of the Spanish Civil War, the novel uses the characters Victor Dalmau and Roser Bruguera to depict the pain of war and exile and the hope of new beginnings.
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