Violeta [English Edition]: A Novel

No one gives you anything in life, Teresa would say, you have to take it by force, and as soon as you get careless they’ll take it back.

There’s a time to live and a time to die. In between there’s time to remember.

Her eternal illness is the reason for my good health; in order to avoid following in her footsteps, I’ve lived my life proudly ignoring any and all ailments. That’s how I learned that, in general, things clear up on their own.

That’s how I spent my adolescence, our period of Exile, which I remember as the most diaphanous time of my life.

implacable,

prosaic

No one knows what really goes on within a couple’s inner sanctum or why someone might put up with things that others deem inexcusable.

The rural women taught me that courage is contagious and that there’s strength in numbers; what you can’t do on your own can be achieved together, the more the better.

“Exert some independence; you’re not a little girl. You can’t let anyone else decide things for you. You have to take care of yourself in this world,” she said.