Christina van der Berg: The Mysterious Benefactor of The Life Impossible

Overview

Christina van der Berg (née Papadakis) is the unseen catalyst of The Life Impossible. A former music teacher at the same Lincolnshire school as Grace Winters, she leaves Grace a dilapidated house in Ibiza after her presumed drowning. As the story unfolds, Christina is revealed to have possessed psychic abilities and a deep connection to an alien presence in the Mediterranean, known as La Presencia. Her character arcs from a shy, lonely young woman into a fearless environmental activist and, ultimately, a being who transcends earthly limits.

Plot Role

Christina’s bequest forces Grace out of her grief‑stagnated life in England. The inheritance letter arrives in Chapter 6, and Grace later learns (Chapter 25) that Christina disappeared during a midnight dive with Atlantis Scuba. Through research, Grace discovers that Christina had become an outspoken defender of Ibiza’s ecosystems, protesting oil drilling and luxury developments (Chapter 25). The mystery of Christina’s death and her relationship with discredited marine biologist Alberto Ribas drives the central plot. On the alien world Salacia, Grace meets a healthy Christina (Chapter 97), who explains that La Presencia orchestrated Grace’s journey so she could become a protector of the island.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

• Empathy and kindness: In Chapter 6, Grace recalls inviting the distressed Christina to Christmas dinner. Christina later repays that “act of kindness long ago” by leaving Grace her house.
• Determination: Christina leaves a safe teaching career to pursue singing in Ibiza (Chapter 6). She later channels that drive into environmental activism.
• Secrecy and protectiveness: She conceals her psychic gifts from most people, including her daughter Lieke (Chapter 57). She tells Lieke she has “a plan” to disappear to a better world.
• Generosity: She uses her abilities to help people, as seen when she gives Frankie a pouch of gummy bears and he delivers a thank‑you gift to Grace (Chapter 24).
• Acceptance of the impossible: Christina fully embraces La Presencia, even though it strains her relationship with her daughter and leads to her “death.”

Chronological Arc

Relationships

Grace Winters

The central relationship. Grace’s simple kindness at Christmas creates a lifelong bond. Christina later says, “I could have chosen anyone. But I chose you. You are the best person I ever knew” (Chapter 97). Grace feels she did nothing special, but Christina perceives Grace’s potential.

Lieke van der Berg (daughter)

A troubled relationship. Lieke describes Christina as “a shit mother” who “was taken over” by her psychic experiences (Chapter 57). Christina tried to warn Lieke about her future, which Lieke found oppressive. They last spoke after a heated argument; Christina slapped Lieke. Despite this, Grace senses that “your mother loved you.”

Alberto Ribas

Christina works closely with Alberto, a marine biologist who discovered La Presencia and wrote La vida imposible. They appear together in dive photos (Chapter 25). Alberto later tells Grace that Christina knew she would be killed and took action (Chapter 31). His quest to prove the alien presence aligns with Christina’s activism.

Frankie

A scarred man who arrives at Grace’s door asking for Christina (Chapter 24). He leaves a pouch of Haribo gummy bears as a thank‑you gift, saying “Christina was right about everything.” This encounter shows that Christina affected even peripheral figures.

Key Decisions and Consequences

• Decision to move to Ibiza: Opens a path to discovering La Presencia and becoming an activist.
• Decision to keep her gifts secret: Strains her relationship with Lieke, who feels robbed of “unpredictability” (Chapter 57).
• Decision to involve Grace: She changes her will, giving Grace the Ibiza house. This forces Grace out of her anhedonic life, ultimately leading Grace to forgive herself (Chapters 6, 97).
• Decision to “disappear”: She apparently orchestrates her own death to transcend to Salacia, fulfilling her promise to protect the island.
• Consequence: Grace takes up the mantle of protector, renovates the house, tends the garden, and continues Christina’s environmental work (Chapter 122).

Theme and Symbol Connections

• Grief and Guilt: Christina’s intervention helps Grace confront her grief over her son Daniel. In Chapter 97, Christina urges Grace to “free yourself first” of guilt.
• Transformation and Rebirth: Christina transforms from a frightened teacher to a transcendent being. Grace, too, is reborn through Christina’s legacy.
• Interconnectedness: Christina becomes a node in the “vast sequence” of life (Chapter 123). The St Christopher necklace she returns to Grace symbolizes the continuous web of connection.
• Environmental Activism: Christina protests oil drilling, golf courses, and the Es Vedrà hotel development. Her activism is a direct expression of her connection to La Presencia.
• The Limits of Rationality: Christina fully embraces the impossible. Her life demonstrates that “not everything has to make sense” (Chapter 6). The novel uses her story to challenge scientific materialism.

5 Book‑Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why did Christina leave her house to Grace instead of her daughter?
   Lieke did not want the house (Chapter 57) and Christina believed Grace needed it. Grace’s “act of kindness” decades earlier made Christina see her as the best person to continue her work (Chapter 97).

2. How did Christina develop psychic abilities?
   She had an experience in the ocean after which she was “taken over” (Chapter 57). The La Presencia entity granted her foresight and telepathic powers. She could see future events and test possible outcomes.

3. Was Christina murdered?
   The investigation treats her death as an “ongoing situation” (Chapter 7). Lieke says Christina “predicted it,” and Alberto claims she “knew she would be killed” (Chapter 31). The novel leaves open the possibility that Art Butler or other forces arranged her death, but Christina also had a plan to survive on Salacia.

4. What is the significance of the St Christopher necklace?
   Grace gave Christina the necklace in 1979 when she left for Ibiza (Chapter 6). Christina later dropped it in the seagrass meadow, where Grace finds it in a dive photo (Chapter 25). On Salacia, Christina returns the necklace to Grace (Chapter 97), symbolizing the return of hope and the completion of a circle.

5. How does Christina’s relationship with her daughter affect the story?
   Lieke’s resentment partly explains why Christina reached out to Grace. The fractured mother‑daughter bond underscores the theme that knowing the future can destroy intimacy. Nevertheless, Grace later reassures Lieke that Christina loved her, and the story suggests healing is possible (Chapter 57).