67 pages 2 hours read

Isabel Allende

Violeta

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Part 4, Chapters 21-28

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4: “Rebirth”

Part 4, Chapter 21 Summary

Facunda tells Violeta the news of bodies that have been discovered in a sealed cave near Nahuel. A priest named Albert Benoit learns about them when one a police officer from the area, confesses his participation in the murders. Benoit traveled to confirm what he was told and found a boarded-up cave in the countryside with human bones inside; every skull carries a single gunshot wound.

Benoit’s identity is protected, and the cardinal acts quickly with the evidence Benoit provides him, gathering a secret delegation to visit the cave which includes journalists, and representatives from the Red Cross, the Human Rights Commission, and the Vatican. By the time the cardinal makes his first press statement, the locals have already begun whispering about the bones, and Facunda calls Violeta.

After numerous attempts to cover up the matter, government finally explains the bodies as executions carried out by soldiers acting of their own initiative, promising the perpetrators will be punished. The authorities close off the area and work on retrieving the bodies privately, but family members of the disappeared gather and camp out around the area; Facunda is among them. Several weeks later, unable to turn the crowds away, the authorities finally allow the families to identify the deceased.