Violeta

José Antonio and Marko begin a business together building prefabricated wooden homes, which they call “Rustic Homes.” José Antonio secures a loan to revive the sawmill as part of the business, and he registers it in Sacramento, where the Del Valle reputation remains untarnished. Feeling suffocated by her life in Santa Clara, Violeta eventually joins the business, too; only Fabian and Torito protest her moving to Sacramento, as both will miss her terribly.

A year after Violeta moved to Sacramento, Bruno sends word that María Gracia is not doing well. All six of her children reunite at Santa Clara for the first time since their father’s funeral town years prior. Fabian’s brother-in-law, who is a doctor, examines María Gracia and proclaims she has emphysema, and not much time to live. When Pía’s healing hands also fail, Yaima is brought in, and performs a ritual to help María Gracia pass over. María Gracia passes away in the early hours of the morning.

Violeta is unable to mourn her mother’s loss for months, feeling deep resentment about how her mother did not make more of an attempt to be closer to Violeta. One afternoon, when she is in the Rustic Homes office, she sees her mother’s spirit again, which disappears despite Violeta begging her not to leave. Violeta breaks down crying, and she is finally purged of all the bad memories and bitterness regarding her mother.

Mourning her mother and World War II both delay Violeta’s marriage. Fabian’s family’s allegiance is with the Axis powers, but Violeta does not know or care about the details of the war, despite her brother and the Rivases trying to indoctrinate her against German dictator Adolf Hitler.

During this time, Fabian becomes obsessed with artificial insemination in animals, doing research and conducting experiments along these lines. Violeta initially thinks the work laughable, but eventually discovers how profitable it can be to her father-in-law’s dairy and other farmers. Fabian’s work leads him to become the best-known vet in the country, many years down the line.

In the city, Josephine gets a job as an English teacher at a girls’ school, while Teresa dedicates herself to feminist causes, including voting rights, abortion, divorce, and defense against violence, work that sees her thrown in jail multiple times. Josephine and Teresa’s visit continues to be the highlight of Violeta’s year, when they come bringing news and progressive ideas from the city.

Violeta enjoys reading and talking about these ideas with Teresa and Josephine, though she never discusses them with anyone else. Both women also advise Violeta against marriage seeing her lack of deep sentiment for or conviction in her relationship with Fabian. However, Violeta rejects their advice, desiring security over freedom.

Violeta and Fabian eventually get married in 1945, with a reception held at Hotel Bavaria. The end of the war and Germany’s defeat dampens the mood somewhat, though none of the attendees mention this. Violeta and Fabian finally make love, and they honeymoon in Rio after. Fabian’s father gives his son acres of land, where José Antonio builds the couple a house. Violeta continues to work for Rustic Homes, saving carefully from the commissions she earns; her ability to earn makes her feel like she is not impotent or useless.

Over time, Violeta realizes that she has never been in love with Fabian. He bores her, and she dislikes his rigid beliefs and the superiority and arrogance he feels about his race. The couple are also unable to have any children, and not for lack of trying. Fabian doesn’t take seriously the distance and dissatisfaction Violeta feels, confident that she will never leave home. Although Violeta plays the role of a submissive wife well, she chafes underneath, and feels angry. The years that Violeta remains married to Fabian are happy ones for Fabian, but uneventful ones for Violeta.

A few years after she is married, Violeta meets Julián Bravo. Julián is a pilot who served in the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, now flying a seaplane commercially. Violeta runs into him at Hotel Bavaria where Julián’s clients, members of the Danish royal family, are staying, and there is instant chemistry between Julián and Violeta. They immediately begin an affair, and for the first time Violeta discovers the pleasures and possibilities of passionate sex.

After spending the night with Julián, Violeta decides to come clean to Fabian, and leaves for José Antonio’s place in Sacramento, in the morning. She tells her brother that she plans to leave Fabian, and José Antonio immediately calls Fabian into the office. Fabian is shocked to learn that Violeta is in love with Julián, but refuses to go through with an annulment, with divorce not yet being a legal option. The couple decide to take some time away from each other—Violeta stays on in Sacramento, while Fabian leaves for Argentina for work. Upon Fabian’s departure, José Antonio summons Julián to Sacramento, where he arrives and spends the rest of the week with Violeta before he has to leave and fly his clients back home.

Violeta continues her affair with Julián, with Julián visiting her in between the flights he makes for work. When Fabian returns after several weeks spent abroad, Violeta reiterates her decision to separate, which he refuses once again. Violeta becomes pregnant with Julián’s child, who though initially responds in shock and anger, eventually reconciles to the idea of being a father; Violeta and Julián await the birth of their child with excitement. Despite her pregnancy with Julián, Fabian continues to refuse the annulment, even prepared to raise the child as his own. Violeta desists from pressing the issue when she learns that despite having earned all their money, she cannot legally claim any of it, if Fabian and her separate.

Violeta and Julián’s son, Juan Martin Brave Del Valle, is born in a hospital in Sacramento the same day that Pía is admitted there for medical tests. Julián, who is away, finds out about the birth a week later. Violeta and Julián move into a house together in Sacramento and begin living like a family. Violeta helps Julián manage his aerial transport company; she learns that he is transporting people in secret, Nazis and Holocaust survivors alike, and helps Julián maintain a separate set of books with the real identities of his clients.

Violeta becomes pregnant again, and although Julián does not react badly, he asserts that this will be the last child he fathers. Despite his perceived lack of freedom, Julián continues to live as he always did, coming and going as he pleases and contributing little to the household expenses. Violeta earns and manages their money, but keeps it private, having learned her lesson with Fabian. Not being married to Julián allows her independence—she cannot even open a bank account without the consent and signature of a husband, so to keep both Fabian and Julián out of her business, her accounts are registered in José Antonio’s name.

Pía dies of cancer in Violeta’s home; before passing away, she proclaims that Violeta will have a daughter. Fabian attends Pía’s funeral, still more accepted by Violeta’s family than Julián is. José Antonio had warned Violeta that her relationship with Julián will be condemned by society, and she has accordingly been ostracized and labeled an “adulteress” and “concubine,” while Julián is still able to charm his way wherever he wants to go.

During Violeta’s second pregnancy, Julián begins to lose interest in her and her body. He becomes unfaithful and is often verbally and physically abusive to Violeta. However, she continues to be so charmed by him that their fights usually end with her begging for forgiveness and him being a tender and devoted partner for a time.

Ten days before the baby’s due date, Violeta learns the baby is breech, and she is scheduled for a C-section. Violeta and Julián also have a terrible fight when one of his girlfriends turns up at the house, claiming Julián had told her he was single. Julián rails about how his sexual needs are left unmet by Violeta’s “deformed” body, and he convinces her to have a tubectomy following the baby’s birth, so she has no more children and can “regain” her figure.

Violeta and Julián’s daughter is named Nieves. The surgery does not go smoothly, leaving Violeta with an infection that takes her a while to heal from. Josephine comes down to care for her, and Julián, too, is an attentive partner, scared of being left with motherless children in case of Violeta’s death.

Juan Martin does not resemble his father at all in temperament, leading Julián to be harsh and cruel with his son and accuse Violeta of raising him “soft.” Nieves, however, is beautiful and bold, with all the qualities Julián desires in his offspring. She grows up spoiled and selfish, as Violeta has no authority over her children’s discipline.

Over time, Violeta and Julián’s relationship comes to be accepted in society, and he never brings up marriage; for her part, Violeta relishes the financial independence her situation gives her, earning and saving well. Despite the comfortable life Violeta leads, however, she constantly feels like she is living on a tightrope. Julián disappears for weeks at a time and returns without warning, sometimes ecstatic and other times in a low mood.

In the late 1950s, Julián begins to pilot flights to Argentina, Cuba, and Miami. Violeta gleans that the former, which Julián never talks about, are to do with secret government plots. The latter, which Julián discusses freely, involve flights for members of the mafia, which is thriving in Cuba under Fulgencio Batista’s government. However, Violeta is terrified to learn that Julián is working for both sides—transporting drugs, liquor, and women for the mafia members, as well as weapons for the rebels led by Castro, who are planning a revolution.

With the money rolling in, Violeta suggests that Julián buy another plane and hire pilots to expand his operation. She invests in the business, named Seagull Air, and they form a 50-50 partnership, which Violeta largely manages and pockets half the earnings from, when Julián gets bored of it eventually. Over the years, Julián also stops hitting Violeta, as she knows too many of his secrets and can potentially ruin him.

In the last days of Batista’s dictatorship, with the revolution imminent, Julián transports multiple mafia members to Miami; On New Year’s Eve of 1958, Batista flees Cuba with his collaborators. With Cuba no longer profitable, Julián moves his base to Miami, but Violeta stays on in Sacramento with the children and the business. Julián visits often, his relationship with Violeta as volatile as ever, causing Juan Martin to frequently beg Violeta to leave Julián.

By 1960, Bruno and the Rivases have also passed away, with only Pilar, Torito, and Facunda left at Santa Clara. Bruno’s death leaves Pilar especially broken; from evasive comments made by the others, Violeta deduces that Pilar and Bruno had become lovers. In the summer, Josephine and Teresa arrive at the farm; Teresa is dying of lung cancer. Juan Martin enjoys the time spent on the farm, but Nieves detests it, behaving impertinently with its inhabitants. Despite her impertinence, however, she proves her mettle on the day an earthquake strikes.

The earthquake is the strongest that has ever been recorded until then, and the aftershock causes the gas stove in the house to explode, setting the house on fire. Ten-year-old Nieves notices that Teresa isn’t outside with everyone else and runs into the house to drag her out alone, before Torito eventually rushes to help. Teresa dies shortly after from asphyxiation; Nieves suffers second-degree burns but no emotional trauma and displays a nonchalance about her reflexive act of bravery.

A heartbroken Josephine returns to Ireland to try to find her siblings but gives up within a week. José Antonio travels to Ireland to bring Josephine back; on the ship journey back, Josephine finally agrees to marry him, and despite her initial assertion that they will have a “white marriage,” the couple consummate their relationship before they return home. The 20 years they eventually spend together are the happiest of José Antonio’s life. Pilar passes away a couple of years later, cared for by Facunda and Torito in her final days. Josephine, who inherits the farm from Teresa, keeps it going for Torito’s sake, as it is the only place he has as a home.

After the quake, business increases for Rustic Homes, and Violeta buys gold as an investment. Fabian suddenly appears, asking for José Antonio’s services for Colonia Esperanza, “(a) large agricultural community of German immigrants (that has) settled in the area” (156). Having heard suspicious things about the place, such as it being under the command of a fugitive war criminal, José Antonio refuses Fabian. The latter reappears a few years later, willing to sell Violeta their annulment to finance a lab for his research. José Antonio prepares the contract, and Violeta uses a portion of her gold toward this end: “Just when (she’d) least expected it, (she) was suddenly a single woman” (157).