This Just In… Malena: A Novel by Edgardo David Holzman

In his debut novel, Edgardo David Holzman draws upon his knowledge of Argentina and the world of human rights crimes to tell a gripping, haunting, vividly rendered tale of politics and love. Malena is an informed, evocative pageturner in which Holzman explores human passion, courage and resilience in the face of unspeakable cruelty and depravity.

Set in 1979 in Buenos Aires and Washington, D.C., three years after the demise of Argentina’s Peronist democracy, the drama of Malena is played out amid the military dictatorship’s so-called Dirty War, waged against its own citizens, in which an estimated 30,000 people -- alleged subversives -- were secretly kidnapped, tortured and killed by the authorities. The official campaign of terrorism was carried out with the complicity or acquiescence of the police, the courts and the leadership of the Catholic Church, and disproportionately targeted the Jewish population, making it the worst slaughter of Jews since the Second World War.

Publishers Weekly writes, “Set during Argentina’s Dirty Wars of the late 1970s and early 80s, Holzman’s stunning debut novel follows two men clamoring for a woman's heart as they weather the country’s descent into brutality …. Holzman, an Argentinian himself, has crafted a beautiful tale grounded in history and propelled by fast-paced storytelling.”

You can order Malena here. Visit the author’s website here. ◊


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