Elisa. The Unexpected Rose

Elisa. The Unexpected Rose

Novel for young readers
Norma, Colección Zona libre , 2017
212 pages

The search for happiness, the awakening of sexuality, self-knowledge, and the construction of identity in adolescence are some themes in this novel.

But one of the main subjects the story features is human trafficking and sexual violence. Linked to this problem is the complicity and indifference of a society marked by class status.

It might seem a rather hard and dark subject for a Juvenile literature book but being one of the many problems that affect our real world it´s necessary to address it openly.

Bodoc draws a social portrait of a hopeless lower class that can only sink in marginality or just keep on going. Elisa, the young protagonist, moves ahead not exactly knowing where she is heading or what demons (using the writer´s own words) could stand in her way.

There is magic and mystery, lights and shadows that come together to create a world as disturbing as magical.

To write this novel Liliana Bodoc travelled to the towns of San Salvador de Jujuy, Tilcara and Santa Fe. It was the first time she decided to travel and write. It was also the first time she decided to share her writing methodology with her readers.

Her journey´s log can be found at www.elviajedelilianabodoc.com.ar

Here we can read the diary of her travelling as well as the author´s notes. Comments, poems, corrections, questions that expose her writing process. Not all of this is on the printed edition.

This website under construction complements the stories of Elisa and her characters in the book.

The threat of human trafficking glides through a story that also makes room for the fantastic. A mythological glance trying to heal the wounds of gender violence. Verónica Abdala. Diario Clarín

Lilian Bodoc´s latest book will definitely become an essential reading. Revista de Cultura y Literatura Infantil y Juvenil.