In the Time of the Butterflies

by Julia Alvarez

She remembers a clear moonlit night before the future began.

Nonsense, so much nonsense the memory cooks up, mixing up facts, putting in a little of this and a little of that.

You think you’re going to crack any day, but the strange thing is that every day you surprise yourself by pulling it off, and suddenly you start feeling stronger, like maybe you are going to make it through this hell with some dignity, some courage, and most important—never forget this, Mate—with some love still in your heart for the men who have done this to you.

Everything I had to touch. Everything I had to taste. I wanted everything back in my life again.