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Reading fiction can be an interesting way to get introduced to or know better a country. Yaravi Roig is an Uruguayan writer who lives in Piriapolis. In her books, she gives to the reader the opportunity to discover Uruguayan culture, more specifically Piriapolis and the people who made it.

Born in 1948 in Maldonado, Roig once worked as a special education teacher until she retired a few years ago. Now dedicated to writing, she has already published three books: a collection of short stories, Presagio de sol en Piriapolis, and two novels, Carmen vida mia. ¿Hija o amante o de Piria? and Solsticio de verano. While factually based, her stories are fictional, and all of them take place in Piriapolis.

Short stories by the sea

Presajio de sol en Piriapolis is a collection of fantasy short stories. Siete Dias en Heliopolis is one of them. Written as a travel journal, the story takes place in the end of the 21st century. A young European woman working as an archeologist comes to Heliopolis. She discovers a strange seaside resort, subsisting on a self-management basis. The three surrounding hills of the actual town, Cerro San Antonio, Cerro del Toro, and Cerro Pan de Azucar are islands visible from the coast of Heliopolis. Along her adventure, the archeologist will discover what happened to Piriapolis… where people flew from to live in Heliopolis a few years earlier.

Fransisco Piria’s life

Carmen vida mia. ¿Hija o amante o de Piria? is about the life of Fransisco Piria and the relationship he had with the young Carmen. Piria was aged 74 when he met Carmen, then aged 23. The name of the book raises the question they use to ask: lover or daughter? When Piria past away, each of his four children received one fifth of his heritage, the fifth part being left to Carmen. Was it a way to give her status for the controversial relationship they had? About love and, above all, the interest they both had in alchemy.

History and cabalistic codes

In Solscticio de verano, Roig tells about the history of Piriapolis. She found inspiration from her own family history, and from her own experience of the place. The plot starts in 1906 with the immigration of her grandfather from Catalunya, Spain, to Uruguay in a quest for a better life. Built on people’s intertwining stories, the book gives a picture of the unfolding of Piriapolis throughout history. Indeed, the cover itself gives a first clue about the plans the city had been built on.

If Spanish is not a language you are able to read yet, don’t worry. Due to its touristic interest, the Ministerio del Turismo y Deporte gave Roig help to get the book translated to English. Solsticio de Verano (Summer Solstice) will be available in English from December in Uruguayan bookshops.