Lead Review
- Book: There Are No Happy Loves
- Location: Buenos Aires
- Author: Miranda France (translator), Sergio Olguin
The third book in the Verònica Rosenthal series opens dramatically, with a prologue of three people’s stories that don’t at first seem to be connected. Dario is about to break up with his wife, but he’s driving with her, their beloved toddler daughter and various relatives, home from a holiday, when the vehicle is involved in a fatal collision. Although he’s told that he’s the sole survivor, Dario believes that his wife and child escaped and he’s desperate to find them. Elsewhere, Verònica Rosenthal has also been left in charge of a toddler – her nephew – and she’s traumatised when she manages to lose him while they are out shopping. The third mini drama features Federico Córdova, an attorney, who is called to witness a judicial raid on a vehicle thought to be carrying drugs, which instead turns out to be full of human body parts. The rest of the novel gradually weaves these threads together, and a pattern emerges linking the events.
Verònica Rosenthal is an investigative journalist, working in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on an independent magazine. In this third novel she has been promoted to editing and the excitement of breaking the big stories seems to lie in her past. Her love life also seems defunct, with her former lover, Federico Córdova, having walked away some months before. Previously, we are told, Verò and Federico have pooled their skills as journalist and attorney, driven by a sense of justice as much as Veronica’s keen news sense.
I’ve never been to Buenos Aires – or anywhere in Argentina – and so I didn’t know what to expect from a crime series that is set there. I wasn’t surprised to find that South American corruption, the power of the established Catholic church and politics played a big part. I was fascinated by the sheer amount of realistic detail about everyday life in Argentina that the author provides, as well as the quirky elements, such as the obsession of a group of women with the details of each other’s love lives; the fact that every meeting seems to take place in a bar somewhere in the city and the intense affection the protagonist has for her little dog. All these details make the characters relatable and real. While it could be said that Olguìn’s descriptions of Buenos Aires doesn’t do much to promote its tourist industry, it is nevertheless fascinating to understand more about the way the city functions, the values the people hold dear, and the hold that parts of the establishment have over the lives of ordinary people.
I found There Are No Happy Loves absolutely gripping and loved the characters, who are imperfectly perfect. I was thoroughly engaged throughout and would definitely seek out other books in the series. I think fans of Stig Larsson’s Millennium series will enjoy the Verònica Rosenthal books, as the series share a protagonist engaged in slightly subversive magazine journalism who is committed to shining light into dark corners, such as corruption and establishment-endorsed wrongdoing.
The plot line that links the Rosenthal books is the on-off relationship between Verò and Federico, which has hit a very rocky patch, with each of them exploring other options. Readers will join me in hoping they both see sense and get back together! This romantic sub-plot and the abundance of detailed description throughout are cleverly used to increase the tension in the novel. You certainly won’t want to put the book down too often as you race towards the grand finale, with Verò’s life in danger and evil threatening to overpower good…
How lucky we are that Miranda France’s translation grants non-Spanish-speaking readers access to the drama, intrigue and very human emotions that this book depicts.
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