2019 National Book Award Finalist
Reading it will change you, perhaps forever." --San Francisco
Chronicle
"Astonishing, powerful, so important at this time." --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 Forché 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 Forché 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 Forché 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.
