Launch of Carmen Rodriguez's book, Retribution

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - 7:00pm

Octopus Books
116 Third Ave.
Ottawa, ON

Octopus Books and Three O'clock Press welcome you to join in celebrating the launch of Carmen Rodriguez's novel Retribution.

Retribution tells the intertwining histories of three generations of Martínez women who are devastated by the 1973 Chilean military coup and forced to emigrate in the aftermath.

The novel’s first thread is set in contemporary Vancouver, where performance artist Tania learns she is the child of a prison rape and must address her difficult relationship with her diasporic home. The second returns to the beautiful Chile of Tania’s grandmother, Soledad, who attempts to stem the tide of political turmoil from entering her family life. The final thread tells the harrowing story of Tania’s mother, Sol, whose journey from peaceful humanitarianism and romance with a Santiago musician is devastated by military abduction and betrayal. Radicalized by the upheaval of the Pinochet regime, the Martínez women search for ways to regain their beloved homeland, making family solidarity, political activism, and love their ultimate acts of retribution.

At turns lyrical, forceful, and unflinching, Carmen Rodríguez’s debut novel evocatively charts a family’s journey of struggle and survival from one home to the next, examining how the traumas of conflict can both create and destroy.

http://octopusbooks.org/event/book-launch-retribution