Abel Posse
The novelist's father, Ernesto Parentini, a porteño of Italian parents, was one of the founders of Artistas Argentinos Asociados and was the producer of the legendary feature film La guerra gaucha (1942), based on the text by the poet Leopoldo Lugones. The young Abel Posse grew up in the Argentine capital near Rivadavia street, and given his father's profession was exposed to the artistic and cultural milieu this most sophisticated of the South American capitals had to offer. The “Queen of the River Plate”, as Buenos Aires came to be known, fascinated the young man, (4) and his memories are evoked in his novel Los demonios ocultos (1987).
He was able to mingle with the glamorous stars of Argentine show business, like Chas de Cruz, Pierina Dealessi, Ulises Petit de Murat, Muñoz Azpiri, the writer of radioplays which were performed by Eva Duarte (de Perón), as well as the tango composers Aníbal Troilo and Homero Manzi. Such were the family connections to show business that one of his aunts, Esmeralda Leiva de Heredia, better known as “La Jardín”, was an actress friend of Eva Duarte. (5) Growing up in this environment enabled him to obtain an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the tango repertoire and its culture, (6) which imbues his novel La reina del Plata (1988).
Abel Bosum
Abel Bosum was born the oldest of 11 children of his mother Lucy Busom. He was born on an island on Dore Lake in Northern Quebec. His father, Cypien Caron, was a French-Canadian from Quebec City who had a relationship with Lucy Busom in her settlement near Chibougamau, Quebec. His mother Lucy was not allowed to marry his father because of the traditional values of their community and so Abel Bosum would not meet his biological father until he was 53 years old. Abel Bosum's stepfather, Sam Neepoosh, would act as his father figure during his early years until Neepoosh passed away when Abel Bosum was 14 years old in 1969.