The following chronology is based on the events in the novel with the frame of reference being the explosion of the first atomic bomb near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. The events in the novel have been temporally set in accordance with that date.
Spring 1945
May 1 — the death of Hitler is announced by the head of the provisional German
government.
May 8 — V-E Day, the formal end of the war in Europe.
Summer 1945
Ultima comes to live with the Márez family.
Lupito is killed near the river.
The first atomic bomb is tested on July 16, 1945, at Trinity, in the White Sands area near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
July 26 — Japan is given the Potsdam ultimatum of "unconditional surrender" by the Allies.
August 6 — The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and, on August 9, another is dropped on Nagasaki.
August 15 — The Japanese surrender to the Allied forces.
The Márez family goes to El Puerto de los Lunas to help with the harvest.
