The Killer's Tears

Set in modern-day Chile, French author Anne-Laure Bondoux’s children’s novel, The Killer’s Tears (2003), follows the young boy Paolo Poloverdos, whose parents are suddenly murdered on their secluded farm by the nomadic killer Angel Allegria. After the double-murder, Angel remains in Paolo’s family farmhouse, looking after Paolo as if he were his own. As time passes, Angel and Paolo come to care for one another, starting life anew in the isolated Chilean farmhouse. When Luis Secunda, an educated man, arrives, vying for the affections of Paolo, Angel and Paolo are forced to leave the farm for the city. When they arrive at their destination, their lives are forever changed. The book deals with themes of guilt, grief, death, rebirth, survival, second chances, and coming of age. The Killer’s Tears has been called “a haunting, provocative blend of allegory, gritty social commentary, and magic realism that defies definition” by Booklist and an “evocative and beautifully translated story” by Publishers Weekly. The novel won the 2004 French Prix Sorcieres Award.

Narrated in the omniscient third-person perspective, the story begins on Cape Horn, Chile. The young boy Paolo Poloverdos lives with his unloving parents in a remote farmhouse on the southernmost tip of the country. One day, Angel Allegria, a nomadic stranger arrives at Paolo’s farmhouse and murders the boy’s mother and father right in front of him, but spares Paolo, as he’s able to fetch water and make him soup. Angel seizes the farmhouse, settles in, and soon Paolo begins referring to Angel as papa, claiming this day as his birthday. As time goes on, Angel feels affection for Paolo, and the two forge a new loving life together. Paolo learns that Angel has a criminal past as a coldblooded killer who is hiding from the authorities for all of his past sins, using Paolo’s hut as a hideout. While Paolo is deeply sad about the loss of his parents, he begins to love Angel as if he were part of his family. In return, Paolo provides Angel with a sense of purpose in life. As the story progresses, Paolo helps Angel rehabilitate his criminal behavior and become a better person.

Everything changes when Luis Secunda arrives at the secluded farmhouse.  The son of a wealthy winemaker and an educated man, Luis wants to teach Paolo how to read and write; Paolo is willing to learn. As a result, Angel becomes even more possessive of Paolo, causing a major rift between all three males. Paolo and Luis grow closer over time, making Angel jealous and afraid that Paolo will not love him anymore. Angel wants to murder Luis, but Paolo convinces him not to. The two men constantly vie for Paolo’s affection. After a while, Paolo, Angel, and Luis begin to peacefully coexist together on the farm. Luis brings a baby fox back to the farm and gives it to Paolo, who is elated. Soon, the fox grows hungry and lashes out at the men, forcing them to make a three-day trek into the city to purchase more livestock for their farm.



They arrive in the city and stay at an inn. Luis purchases a painting for Paolo. Luis falls in love with the painter, Delia, who happens to be innkeepers’ daughter. Luis and Delia spend a lot of time together. When Luis visits the bank to withdraw cash to pay for the painting, Paolo is given a piece of candy, which he has never seen much less tasted before. Paolo considers the candy his talisman that he keeps in his pocket for good luck. The following day, the police pursue Angel, forcing him to hide with Paolo. Luis and Delia decide to run off together, but not before leaving all of Luis’s inheritance money to Paolo and Angel. As Luis and Delia board a boat to sail away, Angel stops them, giving them half of the inheritance money. Angel and Paolo continue to evade police, heading into the forest to hide.

After walking through the forest for hours, Angel and Paolo encounter Ricardo Murga, a lumberjack. Ricardo, whose entire home is built from wood, is hospitable to Angel and Paolo, providing them with everything they need. As payback, Angel helps Ricardo chop down his final tree before retirement. Later, Angel leaves Paolo with Ricardo and departs from the house. Eventually, arrested by the police in Puerto Natales, Angel is sent to prison for his past crimes. Paolo is forbidden from seeing Angel in jail; he is told by the authorities that it is “not normal” to love a murderer. Later, the police barge into Ricardo’s home in the belief that he is the murderer Angel, and shoot him dead. The final tree that Ricardo chopped down had been cut into planks and shipped to the mill before his death. These same planks are used to make the wooden guillotine eventually used to execute Angel one year after his arrest. At the end of the novel, Paolo grows up, meets, and marries Terusa. Paolo and Terusa have a baby daughter that Paolo affectionately names Angelina, after his unlikely father-figure, Angel.

Bondoux has written several additional children’s books, including What Are You Going to Do With You?, The Destiny of Linus Hoppe, The People of Rats trilogy, That’s How I Became a Hero, The Second Life of Linus Hoppe, Life As it Comes, The Princetta and The Captain, Nuggets, The Tribe, The Time of Miracles, The Other Half of Myself, As Long As We Are Alive, And I Dance, Too, Dawn Will Be Great, and Valentine of the Beautiful Season. She has won more than a dozen literary awards, with her most recent being the inaugural Prix Vendredi Award in 2017 for Dawn Will Be Great.