In my book In the Belly of the Horse I imagine my characters living under difficult circumstances at a particular period in history. But I don’t situate them in Chile, where I am from, and where people had lived through a similar chaos decades before. Instead I take the reader to Peru, the country where I worked and traveled extensively. I did the necessary research to place my characters in real life situations in an imaginary story.
I have often asked myself what would it be like to have to escape from your country of birth? Why am I haunted by this notion when I live in North America in a stable democracy? Perhaps it’s because of the intriguing stories I heard as a child as both my parents, each one separately, had to flee Europe before the second world war. So naturally in my story I place Otilia – the main character, in a small village where she carries out her responsibilities as a wife and mother, is independently employed and living a comfortable life. Then one day – a terrorist group shows up and the family must flee! Her life takes a turn due to an unfortunate fact of history.
Thank you for reading my blog, please come again. Please share this post with your friends that might find it interesting. Please subscribe to my blog using the form below:
Eliana Tobias 
I will look for your book! And good luck with your blog. No matter what, just keep writing!
LikeLike
Thank you for your encouragement!
LikeLike