A Cross and a Star.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

A Cross and a Star is a book so unsettling, yet so hauntingly beautiful, that it is difficult to write about. In it Marjorie Agosin shatters the myth of racial and religious harmony in Chile by exposing the tremendous anti-Semitism that flourished during World War II, and persists even now in the German colonies of the south, where antique dealers still offer portraits of Adolf Hitler.

Conceived as a memoir, the book tells the story of Agosin's mother, Frida. A Jewish child growing up in a town populated primarily by German immigrants and their descendants, Frida is forever the outsider, the "other." The Germans in Osorno sought to preserve their own identity and language, and to this end maintained separate educational institutions. As a child, Frida was barred from the German, English, and Catholic schools, and so attended an Indian school, where the youngsters accepted her with warmth and affection. In many ways Osorno mirrored the Europe the family had left behind. Spat on and stoned by the children of the German elite, Frida nevertheless finds solace in nature and, like Anne Frank, to whom she often refers, sustains her belief in the basic goodness of humanity.

Agosin brings to life - or rather, brings back to life - a plethora of fascinating characters: Great-grandmother Raquel, from Odessa, who learned to speak Spanish in Chile and loved the new language so well she repeated its melodious sounds even in her sleep; the obsessive Mrs. Valtiansky, who wrapped her head in a violet blue rag and walked around in slippers in order not to dirty her old, frayed rugs; superstitious Grandmother Sonia, who forbids everyone to leave hats on the bed or wallets on the floor, lest the money run out, and who, with her fortune-teller friend, Olga Tolchinskaya, conjured up frightening memories of Jews back home. Etelvina Cuevas, whose presence made geraniums bloom and obstructed pipes unclog, adds an element of Andean magic, and Maria, a servant with a penchant for soap operas and booze, adds an element of melodrama. In the eyes of the young Jewish girl, one of the most enigmatic figures is Carmen Carrasco, who, on November 1, "when they say the dead install themselves on earth in order to eat their favorite steaks with french flies," always rented a taxi filled with flowers and went off to the cemetery to pay her respects to the departed. Through these delicately drawn cameos, Agosin creates a rich image of the cultural blend of the Southern Cone.

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