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Esteban asks to marry Rosa
Esteban Trueba pursues Rosa and asks for her hand in marriage. -
Palma elected president
Arturo Alessandri Palma is elected presidenct, increasing the power of the middle class. -
The incident in the church
Clara is accused by Father Restrepo of being under demonic influence. Opening scene of the novel. -
Uncle Marcos' body is recovered.
The body of Uncle Marcos arrives in town alog with a puppy named Barrabas, who Clara adopts. -
General Luis Altamirano stages coup
A coup is staged against the civilian government, causing years of chaos. -
Rosa's Death
Rosa is accidentally poisoned after Severo's party. Clara goes into her period of silence. -
Chilean Constitution adopted
Chile adopts a constitution and graduated income tax as well as separation of church and state. -
Esteban goes to Tres Marias
After visiting his mother and sister, Esteban decides to return to his family estate in Tres Marias. He finds the estate in bad condition, but begins renovating it with the help of the residents. -
Ibanez del Campo takes power
Carlos Ibanez del Campo takes power and institutes the carabinero military police. -
Esteban Garcia is born
After being raped by Esteban Trueba, Pancha Garcia bears a son. This son is the only one of Esteban Trueba's illegitimate children to bear his first name. -
Economic Downturn
The economy crashes. Chile takes the brunt of the damage. -
Clara begins interpreting dreams.
Clara interprets a dream that the gardener has. This is when the family discovers her clairvoyance. -
Ibanez del Campo steps down
The economic crisis forces Ibanez del Campo from power, replacement governments only last for a few days each. -
Palma returns to power
Palma's return puts an end to the anarchy. -
Esteban Trueba meets Transito Soto.
Esteban meets his favorite prostitute and loans her money to move to the city. -
Clara breaks her silence.
On her 19th birthday, clara begins speaking again by announcing that she will marry Rosa's fiance. -
Dona Ester dies.
Esteban Trueba's mother dies after telling him to find a good wife at the Del Valle household. Shortly after the death of his mother, Esteban meets Clara. -
Esteban and Clara are engaged.
After courting, Esteban and Clara become engaged. At the engagement party Barrabas is stabbed in the back and dies in Clara's lap. -
The big house on the corner is built.
Esteban and Clara build their large house. Clara allows Ferula, Esteban's sister, to move in with them and take care of domestic affairs. -
Seguro Obrero Massacre
Attempted Socialist coup is quelled. 60 student demonstrators killed. -
The Radical Party gains power
The Radicals were an offshoot of the Liberal party. -
Clara becomes pregnant after her honeymoon.
After three years in Italy with Esteban, Clara becomes pregnant with her first child, Blanca. -
Clara gives birth.
Blanca is born by C-Section while Esteban is in Tres Marias. -
The Trueba's spend a summer in Tres Marias.
Clara begins teaching the peasants about inequality, which enrages Esteban. In addition to that, Blanca meets and falls in love with Pedro Tercero Garcia. -
The ant plague
Tres Marias becomes infested with ants. When told that modern methods would take a few months to work, Esteban goes to Pedro Garcia, who successfully leads the ants out. -
Clara becomes pregnant again.
At Tres Marias, Clara becomes pregnant with Jaime and Nicolas and returns to the city. Due to the difficulty of the pregnancy, Clara goes silent for a time. Esteban goes to a brothel in the city and meets Transito Soto again. -
Severo and Nivea are killed in a car accident./Jaime and Nicolas are born.
Clara's parents are killed in a car accident. Clara and Ferula recover Nivea's head. Clara then goes into labor and hides her mother's head. -
Gabriel Gonzalez Videla becomes president.
Videla came to power with the support of the communists and Radicals. Once in power, Videla passed the Law of Permanent Defense of the Democracy after coercion from the United States. This law outlawed communists and moved some of them to concentration camps, including the poet Pablo Neruda. -
Nana moves in.
Nana moves into the Trueba house to take care of the family while Clara works with the Mora sisters and other mystics. -
Ferula is thrown out.
After finding Ferula in the same bed as Clara, Esteban kicks Ferula out of the house. Clara is unable to locate Ferula and continues with her mystical activity. Jaime and Nicolas are sent to boarding school. -
Pancha Garcia dies.
Pancha dies, leaving behid a son and grandson, both named Esteban Garcia. -
Carlos Ibanez del Campo returns to power.
The former dictator is elected as president on the platform that he is going to eliminate the corruption of the radicals. -
Ferula Dies
Ferula's spirit visits Clara, signifying her death. Clara, Esteban, and Father Antonio find Ferula dead in the poorest part of the city. -
Blanca and Pedro begin meeting in secret.
Pedro becomes more of a revolutionary and has to meet with Blanca in secret. -
Earthquake in the novel.
The giant earthquake strikes, breaking every one of Esteban's bones. Nana dies of fright. Pedro is banned from Tres Marias shortly after. Blanca learns to work with clay, and Clara starts to dislike Esteban. -
Snipe Incident
Argentinian forces destroy a chilean lighthouse in disputed territory. -
Communism ban lifted.
Communists are no longer outlawed in Chile. -
Great Chilean Earthquake
The largest earthquake ever recorded, measuring a 9.5 on the Richter Scale, has its epicenter south of Santiago near Valdivia. The quake is so great that it also sets off a large volcano. -
Jean De Satigny arrives.
Jean De Satigny shows up in Tres Marias. He pursues Blanca's hand in marriage while convincing Esteban to breed chinchillas. -
Eduardo Frei Montalva is elected president.
Montalva is a Christian Democrat and calls his presidency the "Revolution in Liberty". -
Pedro Garcia dies.
Pedro Garcia dies. Esteban throws a large funeral. Pedro Tercero sneaks in. Shortly after, Blanca becomes pregnant, causing Esteban to hit Clara. Esteban swears to kill Pedro Tercero. -
Esteban tries to kill Pedro Tercero.
Esteban Garcia leads Esteban Trueba to Pedro Tercero. Esteban cuts off three of Pedro's fingers. -
Blanca marries Jean de Satigny
Upon finding out that Blanca is pregnant, Esteban forces her to marry Jean de Satigny and move up north. -
Esteban wins a senate seat.
Esteban gets elected to senate. He grows no closer to his family and begins slowly shrinking. -
Jaime changes his last name.
Jaime chooses not to associate with his father's politics and changes his last name. -
Amanda's abortion
Jaime helps Amanda abort her baby. At the same time, Blanca's daughter Alba is born. -
Blanca moves back to the city.
Blanca finds out about Jean de Satigny's odd sexual behavior with the Indians and moves back to the city just before Alba is born. -
Nicolas goes to India.
Nicolas seeks enlightenment in India and comes back a vegetarian. -
Blanca meets up with Pedro Tercero.
Blanca meets Pedro at the park but refuses to run away with him. -
Salvador Allende elected president.
Allende led the People's Unity party, which included communists and socialists. He won by a very small margin. His support of communism and socialism is displeasing to the United States. -
Pablo Neruda wins the Nobel Prize in literature.
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Clara dies.
First, Alba is molested by Esteban Garcia who is asking for a job from Esteban Trueba. Clara is ready to die and makes preparations for death before dying on Alba's seventh birthday. -
Esteban builds the mausoleum.
Esteban builds a mausoleum for his family that he buries Clara in and steals Rosa's body to bury in. Nicolas starts the Union with Nothingness, which gets him banished from the country by Esteban. Esteban has a non-fatal heart attack. Blanca continues to meet with Pedro Tercero. Esteban sleeps with Transito Soto at the Christopher Columbus. Tres Marias falls into ruin. -
The Coup D'etat
Salvador Allende is killed by the military, Augusto Pinochet is placed in power. Leftists and communist are put down and imprisoned or killed by the military regime. -
Alba is molested a second time by Esteban Garcia.
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Alba goes to University and meets Miguel.
Jaime is the only one who knows about the relationship. He goes to help one of Miguel's relatives, who happens to be Amanda, so high on substances that she is almost dead. -
The socialists win.
The socialists win the election, forcing Pedro Tercero into an important position. Esteban and the conservatives are enraged and begin ruining the country and planning a coup. -
Esteban is taken hostage.
The peasants take over Tres Marias and take Esteban hostage. Pedro Tercero, Blanca, and Alba have him released. Esteban is warned by one of the Mora sisters that there is about to be bloodshed and that Alba is in danger. -
The coup in the novel.
The conservatives stage a coup. Jaime is captured and killed. Blanca hides Pedro Tercero. Esteban expects the dictatorship to end shortly. Miguel joins the Guerillas. Esteban burns down Tres Marias. After the coup, Pedro and Blanca flee to Canada. Alba is captured by the military police and brought to Colonel Esteban Garcia. -
Alba is in confinement.
Alba is deterred from killing herself by Clara's spirit. Esteban gets Transito Soto to help him find Alba. -
Esteban dies.
Esteban dies at 90. Alba is pregnant.