Rosa dies early in the book. Her green hair and unearthly beauty engender comparisons to mermaids. What symbolic meaning does she carry—and why, at the end, is her body still intact?

Also known as "Rosa the Beautiful," Rosa is Clara's older sister and Esteban Trueba's original love and fiancé. She is born with a mermaid-like beauty, with green hair and luminescent eyes and skin. She dies in place of her father, Severo del Valle, from poisoned brandy left by his political adversaries. Years after her death, Esteban Trueba illegally exhumes her corpse and buries it alongside Clara's. Her intact corpse suggest there was something angelic or celestial about her.