The Blue Hour

Description

Adrián Ormache, a high-flying lawyer with a beautiful wife and two daughters, leads a privileged and glamorous life in one of Lima's wealthiest neighbourhoods. But when his mother dies, he discovers a letter amongst her possessions making shocking claims about her now long-dead husband, Adrián's father - a commander in the army during the Peruvian Civil War of the 1980s. As well as being linked to atrocities committed against the 'Shining Path' guerrillas, it appears that he also kidnapped and kept a local girl, whose family now seeks retribution. Shocked out of his comfortable existence, Adrián becomes obsessed with finding the girl at the heart of the mystery, and sets out to face the harrowing realities of Peru's recent past, and uncover the truth about his father.

Description

This is a novel that explores the aftermath of the Peruvian Civil War. Adrian Ormache is a prosperous lawyer living in Lima. He has the perfect life: a great career, beautiful wife, two doting and intelligent daughters. But when his mother dies, a series of events devastate his entire view of the past, his parents, and his country. Adrian's mother leaves a letter indicating that she was being blackmailed. Confused, Adrian talks to his brother, who tells him that their long dead father Colonel Ormache, who led military operations against the guerrillas during the terrible Peruvian Civil War of the 1980's, was not quite the hero Adrian had always considered him to be: he routinely had POWs and civilian women raped, tortured and executed. His mother's blackmailer is revealed to be one of the Colonel's former subordinates. When Adrian confronts him the man gives him the name of the one prisoner whom the Colonel spared and kept as a lover,Miriam. Adrian becomes obsessed with finding Miriam. His search is cathartic and all-consuming, a journey that takes him into a country that is a far-cry from the stable, civilised Lima he is used to, a people still haunted by a harrowing, ongoing war, and some truths about his family that he could never have imagined. This is literary fiction with definite crossover elements: family secrets; an obsessive love affair; the brutality, misery and guilt of war; an intrigued and intriguing anti-hero searching for answers.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The Blue HourRandom House UK2012-06-01
• The blue hour2013-01-01