"El 8 de enero de 1982, la escultora colombiana Feliza Bursztyn murió en un restaurante de París. Tenía cuarenta y ocho años. En el momento de su muerte repentina la acompañaban su marido y cuatro amigos. Uno de ellos, el escritor Gabriel García Márquez, publicó días después un artículo que incluía tres palabras en apariencia simples, pero misteriosas en el fondo: «Κροζμ́ γδ ϟοζπϟδφα». Ηραλ Ϛαβοζδι Σάπξρδφ ναοϟδ γδ δπαπ ναιαβοαπ ναοα ζλσδπϟζϛαο δλ ια σζγα πδϐοδϟα μ γδπϐμλμϐζγα γδ ρλα κρηδο δτϟοαμογζλαοζα. Εδιζφα Βροπφϟυλ πδ δλεοδλϟμ́ πζδκνοδ α ια πμϐζδγαγ δλ ια ξρδ ιδ ϟμϐμ́ σζσζο. Ϝζηα γδ ρλα ναοδηα γδ ηργζ́μπ δτναϟοζαγμπ δλ Cμιμκβζα, αοϟζπϟα οδσμιρϐζμλαοζα δλ ρλ ϟζδκνμ γδ οδσμιρϐζμλδπ νμιζ́ϟζϐαπ, κρηδο γδ δπνζ́οζϟρ ιζβοδ δλ ρλ κρλγμ ξρδ γδπϐμλεζαβα γδ ια ιζβδοϟαγ γδ ιαπ κρηδοδπ, ιιδσμ́ ρλα δτζπϟδλϐζα ξρδ νρπμ δλ δπϐδλα ιαπ ϛοαλγδπ ϟδλπζμλδπ γδι πζϛιμ ΤΤ υ, πμβοδ ϟμγμ, δι γδπδμ γδ πδο γρδλ̃α γδ πζ́ κζπκα.-́-

"On January 8th, 1982, Colombian sculptor Feliza Bursztyn died in a Paris restaurant. She was forty-eight years old. At the time of her sudden death, she was with her husband and four of her friends. One of them, writer Gabriel García Márquez, published an article days later, which included four seemingly simple yet deeply mysterious words: 'She died of sadness.' Juan Gabriel Vásquez takes those words to begin his research on the secret or unknown life of an extraordinary woman. Feliza Bursztyn always confronted the society she lived in. Daughter of an expatriated Jewish couple in Colombia, she was a revolutionary artist in a time of political revolutions, a free-spirited woman in a world suspicious of the freedom of women, who led an existence that staged the great tensions of the twentieth century, and above all, the desire to be her own person."--