CAUTE 2012

Marina of Buenos Aires is, above all, a historical novel and a romance in the most classical and literary sense.

It also raises an ethical debate: Should children pay for the mistakes of their parents? Are there insurmountable barriers to love when limits exceed all acceptable possibilities?

Ezequiel Szafir’s novel delves deeply into Argentina’s recent history, using literature as the best means to exercise collective memory.

Marina of Buenos Aires narrates a period that juxtaposes two times and two spaces: Europe during World War II under Nazism, and Argentina under the military regime of the 1970s.

A recurring nightmare signals, from the very first lines, the inexplicable fate of the protagonists. From this ominous beginning, the search for truth continues relentlessly until clarity is reached. Amid this turbulent context, Marina and Ramiro experience all the conflicts of two lovers from families as opposed as they are hostile. Love and heartbreak, exile and misunderstandings, eroticism and the search for identity shape the narrative.

Terrible and lucid, with precise psychological touches in its characters, this work fully fulfills the Latin maxim: “A work of art must teach, move, and delight.”

Marina of Buenos Aires is written in a contemporary style, with a sustained pace that makes it a true page-turner; once you start, you won’t want to put it down until the very end. Readers of Matilde Asensi, Julia Navarro, Gonzalo Martínez Díez, Bianca Miosi, Ruiz Zafón, García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, Miguel Delibes, and Mario Vargas Llosa will all find a novel here that will leave a lasting impression.