The magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez's fiction is given exquisite form in this tale of the lengths of filial devotion. Twelve years after the death of his seven-year-old daughter Evelia, Margarito Duarte, a modest court official in a small town, must dig up her remains as the cemetery is being moved. To his and the townspeople's shock, the girl's body looks as fresh as the day she died-as if she had merely gone to sleep. The townspeople declare a miracle, but the local bishop demurs and, alive or dead, wants her reburied. Magarito is sent to Rome (with little Evelia as carry-on baggage) to let the Vatican decide. There, the matter of Colombia's first saint takes on a political dimension. "As an artist I could not pass over this fascinating character who, after overcoming political intrigue, diplomatic traps, and even police sieges, and armed only with his dignity, finally emerges victorious. With his triumph, the brevity of life prevails over the presumptuous eternity of death" (Gabriel García Márquez).