Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case by Elsa Drucaroff, translated by Slava Faybysh @corylusbooks #RodolfoWalsh #blogtour #histficreadingchallenge #readingirelandmonth24 

Out 5th March

Book blurb

A key figure in the politics and literature of Argentina, Rodolfo Walsh wrote his iconic Letter to my Friends in December 1976, recounting the murder of his daughter Victoria by the military dictatorship. Just a few months later, he was killed in a shoot-out – just one of the Junta’s many thousands of victims.

Suppose this complex figure – a father, militant, and writer who delved the regime’s political crimes – had also sought to reveal the truth of his own daughter’s death?

Elsa Drucaroff’s imagining of Rodolfo Walsh undertaking the most personal investigation of his life is an electrifying, suspense-filled drama in which love and life decisions are inseparable from political convictions as he investigates the mystery of what happened to his daughter.

The head of intelligence for Montoneros, a clandestine Peronist organisation co-ordinating armed resistance against the dictatorship, Rodolfo Walsh was also a prolific writer and journalist, seen as the forerunner of the true crime genre with his 1957 book Operation Massacre.

What if beneath the surface of his Letter to my Friends lay a gripping story lost to history?

My thoughts

This is a story of a man, Rudolfo Walsh, whose daughter Vicki is involved in a standoff with the military. Vicki is a member of the Montoneros organization who went by the name of Hilda.

Rudolfo is listening to an account of a military operation on the radio when he realises that it is his daughter and four compañero who are involved in the fight or, one might say, massacre since the five guerrillas were outnumbered by 150 military personnel – troops, snipers, a tank and helicopter!

Rudolfo is beside himself with what has been reported and is determined to find out what happened and if his daughter is dead or was taken and is alive.

Now begins a complex and beautifully crafted story of his search for the truth. We meet a large cast of players in this book some of whom have more than one name. Rudolfo, for example, a writer, journalist is also in charge of intelligence gathering for the Montoneros and known as Esteban.

All the characters are valuable and intricate pieces in what transpires and the way that Elsa Drucaroff weaves their stories together and draws you into each of them is nothing less than brilliant.

These characters stories will come to tell parts of what happened. They will lead the Montoneros to consider talks with the Military, the way each of these sides think through Rudolfo, the Montoneros executive, through Colonel König who agrees to help find out if Vicki is alive, through General Oddone who is determined to be victorious, of the rank and file of both sides who are brave and willing to fight for their cause. Of the heroes who may just be traitors. Yes, there are red herrings, there is betrayal and as the truth becomes clear there is a tense and dangerous race to stop another deathly encounter.

This is a gripping, breathtaking book in which the author has taken an historic event involving people who actually lived and woven a possible scenario of what transpired. Fiction based on facts. Can there really be an agreement between the two opposing sides? Will Rudolfo be able to find out if his daughter is alive or dead? Is there a future, a return for the missing to their families and a better life for the ordinary, working people of Buenos Aires, of Argentina.? This is a book of heartbreaking sadness but also a story of hope. Will hope win out? Well I certainly enjoyed the ending but Elsa Drucaroff doesn’t pull any punches. She stays true to the history and she stays true to her story. It is often the case that a person, group or event in history can only be recalled, remembered or honoured through a fictional telling until time and tide, as they say, allow History to be written. That is why this book is important as well as being thought provoking it is a record and a comment until the time comes.

This is a fantastic story. Interesting with well drawn characters that is compelling, engrossing and a terrific read.

Rudolfo Walsh’s Last Case is a story that will get you wanting to find out about the real Rudolfo, about what happened to Vicki, about Argentina’s political and social history. I think this would be a really good book for schools, book clubs and history groups to read and discuss all the things that arise in it. The personal stories, the politics, the crimes and the history.

It is only when a book is translated into English that I’m able to read it. So thanks go to Slavya Faybysh for the translation and also to Corylus Books for publishing translated works.

Thanks: with sincere thanks to Ewa at Corylus Books for the invite to join this BlogTour and to Corylus Books for an eCopy for review purposes.

BlogTour

Take a look at these lovely blogs which have different offerings and then pop below and get your own copy of this fascinating book.

Information

Published: Corylus Books (5 March 2024) Ebook (£2.89*) | paperback (£8.99*) | ISBN: 978-1-7392989-3-7

Buy: Waterstones | AmazonSmileUK | *prices may vary | your local bookshop | your local library | Kobo | Hive

Translator

Rudolpho Walsh

Rodolfo Jorge Walsh (January 9, 1927 – March 25, 1977) was an Argentine writer, journalist and activist of *Irish descent, considered the founder of investigative journalism in Argentina.

During the 1950s and 60s he wrote classic mysteries. In 1957 he finished Operación Masacre (“Operation Massacre”), an investigative work on the illegal execution of Peron’s sympathizers during an ill-fated attempt at restoring Peronism to power in June 1956. Operación Masacre is now considered the first historical non-fiction novel given that it preceded Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.

He is most famous for his Open Letter from a Writer to the Military Junta which he published the day before his disappearance/murder. In it he protested that Argentina’s last civil-military dictatorship’s economic policies were having an even greater and disastrous effect on ordinary Argentines than its widespread human rights abuses.

On March 25, 1977, Rudolfo Walsh was mortally wounded during a shoot-out with a “task force” group that ambushed him on the street. Walsh’s body and some of his writings were kidnapped and never seen again, and he is remembered as a desaparecido, a victims of enforced disappearance, as well as a victim of state-sponsored terrorism. He remains disappeared since March 25, 1977.

Articles/links: Words Without Borders | Garrisons.net | Boston Review

Author

Elsa Drucaroff was born and raised in Buenos Aires. She is the author of four novels and two short story collections, in addition to being a prolific essayist. She has published numerous articles on topics such as Argentine literature, literary criticism, and feminism. Her work has been translated into several languages. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences and is a professor of Languages and Literature at the University of Buenos Aires, where she has taught for several decades.
Translated by Slava Faybysh, Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case is Elsa Drucaroff’s first novel to appear in English.