In her grief, Clara stops speaking and remains silent for many years.Įsteban decides not to return to the mine and goes instead to Tres Marías, his family’s rundown hacienda. The entire del Valle family is devasted, as is Esteban Trueba, who returns from the mines. The only thing known for sure is that the brandy did not come from the southern voters. Rumors spread that the Conservative Party sent the brandy to Severo as revenge for joining the Liberal Party despite his high social status, but this is never confirmed. The brandy, which was laced with rat poison, was meant for Severo. Nana gives Rosa some of the brandy, which Rosa drinks and goes to bed. Cuevas, orders sweet lemonade with a splash of liquor. The next day, Rosa develops a fever, and the family physician, Dr. Within days, the pig is gone, and Clara announces there will be an accidental death in the family. A roasted pig arrives as a gift from the southern voters, along with a decanter of the finest brandy. Severo’s political ambitions within the Liberal Party soon pay off, and he runs in the Congressional election to represent a province in the south. Esteban is madly in love with Rosa, and he writes her countless letters. Clara’s sister, Rosa, is engaged to Esteban Trueba, who has been away for two years working in the northern mines. Nívea and the children, especially Clara, are devastated however, Barrabás, a puppy of indeterminate breed, is among Marcos’s personal possessions, and Clara quickly falls in love with him. One day, two men arrive with a coffin, and Nana, the servant in charge of the children, runs in the house and tells Nívea that her brother Marcos has died overseas of a mysterious plague.

She can read auras and predict disasters, make the saltshaker move across the table without touching it, and talk to spirits. Clara has special “mental powers,” which her family tries to keep secret.

She is in the habit of recording all events, big and small, but she has no way of knowing that her notebooks will later be used to “reclaim the past” and “overcome terrors.” Clara’s father, Severo, has political aspirations and her mother, Nívea, hopes her husband is successful so that she can fight for women’s rights from the inside. “ Barrabás came to us by sea,” 10-year-old Clara del Valle writes neatly in her notebook.

The house of the spirits book