What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and

What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance

2019 National Book Award Finalist

"Reading it will change you, perhaps forever.â€ â€”San Francisco Chronicle

â€œAstonishing, powerful, so important at this time.â€ --Margaret Atwood

What You Have Heard is True is a devastating, lyrical, and visionary memoir about a young woman's brave choice to engage with horror in order to help others. Written by one of the most gifted poets of her generation, this is the story of a woman's radical act of empathy, and her fateful encounter with an intriguing man who changes the course of her life.

Carolyn ForchÃ© is twenty-seven when the mysterious stranger appears on her doorstep. The relative of a friend, he is a charming polymath with a mind as seemingly disordered as it is brilliant. She's heard rumors from her friend about who he might be: a lone wolf, a communist, a CIA operative, a sharpshooter, a revolutionary, a small coffee farmer, but according to her, no one seemed to know for certain. He has driven from El Salvador to invite ForchÃ© to visit and learn about his country. Captivated for reasons she doesn't fully understand, she accepts and becomes enmeshed in something beyond her comprehension.

Together they meet with high-ranking military officers, impoverished farm workers, and clergy desperately trying to assist the poor and keep the peace. These encounters are a part of his plan to educate her, but also to learn for himself just how close the country is to war. As priests and farm-workers are murdered and protest marches attacked, he is determined to save his country, and ForchÃ© is swept up in his work and in the lives of his friends. Pursued by death squads and sheltering in safe houses, the two forge a rich friendship, as she attempts to make sense of what she's experiencing and establish a moral foothold amidst profound suffering. This is the powerful story of a poet's experience in a country on the verge of war, and a journey toward social conscience in a perilous time.
Country USA
Brand Penguin Press
Manufacturer Penguin Press
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 0525560378_used
Color Black
ReleaseDate 2019-03-19
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780525560371

Country	USA
Brand	Penguin Press
Manufacturer	Penguin Press
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	0525560378_used
Color	Black
ReleaseDate	2019-03-19
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780525560371

What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance

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