The gruesome past, the only-on-name satisfactive present time. The heroic acts of men and women to bring healing, hope and forgiveness into situations what have been colored by blood, lies and pain.

This one is a beauty of a book. Part of this is because the authoress truly has a way with words. She understands the deeper meaning, this is almost a poetry - without the form of a poem, yet the deep heart is very present. She has the gift to touch the common situations/people and to turn it into the exceptional ones.
A bunch of people is thrown into the central point of the story - a horrible massacre in Guatemala. Men and women make their choices to save the human life, namely the life of a 2-year-old Mayan child Sofia. But their choices are human, driven by their past and in the midst of brutal conflict and/or loneliness - so they do what they consider the best, but it might not the the best solution. And because of that, the past is truly not in the past, even if the characters does not know that - yet. And the choice of one other person will make them to enter the painful memories again - and maybe the healing waits there.

I have been warmly touched by the goodness of the characters here, and by the deep-running faith of the general goodness of people. Even the only one villain here (because the other villains here are corporates and agencies, inhuman institutes) is an interestingly written creature.
I love how human the characters are. They make mistakes, yes. They live with their pain. Yet they are written as the characters who are worthy of love, dignity, another chance, love. Sam, Will, Kate, Martin, Sofia, Manuela, Fernando - they all have their own stoiry, their own voice.
I feel a deep need to back Kate up, because I would in all probability react similarly to her, wanting to protect her daughter (and overprotect her).
Yet I give my kudos to Martin. What a man. While his decision had made me annoyed at the beginning, at the end I can only wonder (in the best meaning) of his good heart and selfless love.

I also recognize and I am thankful that the authoress has written about the hidden crimes of the civil wars. We need to know about that.

Recommended read.