By one of Colombia’s most renowned novelists and reminiscent of Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez,Ro Muertoby Ricardo Silva Romero tackles the topic of paramilitarism and violence in Colombia when a father of two sons is killed a few steps from his home. On the outskirts of Belen del Cham, a town that has yet to appear on any map of Colombia, the mute Salomn Palacios is murdered a few steps away from his home. His widow, the courageous and foul-mouthed Hiplita Arenas, completely loses her sanity and confronts the paramilitaries and local politicians, challenging them to also kill her and her two fatherless sons. Yet as Hiplita faces her husband’s murderers on her desperate journey, she finds an unexpected calling to stay alive. This poetic and hypnotising novel, told from the perspective of Salomn’s ghost, denounces the brutal killings of innocent citizens and at the same time celebrates the invisible: imagination, memories, hope, and the connection to afterlife.
