Requiem for a Woman's Soul

June 1, 1986
Somewhere in Latin America, Father Antonio receives a box of notes from a political prison and becomes obsessed with assembing the filthy scraps into a narrative. The diarist is Susana, a former parishioner kidnapped on the eve of her marriage and slowly and hideously tortured to death. The priest keeps his own journal as he edits Susana's. Eventually, he must confront the monstrous cruelty of the state and the indifference of his church, or go mad. Rivabella, an Argentine journalist, has interviewed female survivors of political repression. His book can be read in an evening, but the imagery of torture and pain will last much longer.Maurice Taylor, Brunswick Cty. Lib., Southport, N.C.