Rising from the Rubble

NOVEL. PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, 2018. 416 PAGES

What happens when everything falls apart, when a world that had seemed safe and secure is reduced to rubble? When one's needs and priorities change and selfishness gives way to solidarity? What's left when uncertainty is the future and solitude the present? Only the invisible bonds of love.
On 15 January, 1944, the lives of the population of San Juan changed forever. In just 20 seconds, 10,000 people were killed and the city disappeared. At first it was just a tremor in the earth, then the ground opened up and a city was reduced to rubble.
Guliano left Mendoza one morning heading for San Juan determined to keep the promise he'd made to his sister: when her triplets were born two were declared stillborn but once the truth was revealed, Guliano's hope and anger sent him out into the unknown.
Laura wakes up with a headache. Silvina, her best friend, is about to marry the love of her life. She doesn't know how to deal with the sadness, or her guilt over how she feels.
However, the earthquake will make everything else seem insignificant. Minutes before the ceremony, the cathedral collapses before Laura's very eyes. Guliano, his single-minded mission interrupted, will be enchanted by this distraught young woman, who was blinded in the quake.
Meanwhile, an entire city struggles to rise from the ashes. This novel features several different stories and characters, all masterfully portrayed by the author. Gabriela Exilart has written a love story set in a city where it seems there is nothing left to salvage.