37 pages • 1 hour read
Julia AlvarezA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
The prologue begins with 66-year-old Camila Henríquez contemplating her future. She is the daughter of the Dominican Republic’s national poet, Salomé, and its former president, Pancho Henríquez. Camila’s birth name is Salomé Camila, but she feels unworthy to use her mother’s name, so she goes by her middle name of Camila. Her story is told by an omniscient narrator because Camila prefers to fade into the background rather than take center stage.
Camila has just reached retirement age and is considering what to do with the rest of her life. For the past 20 years, she has taught Hispanic studies at Vassar College. Now feeling age creep up on her, she wants to devote the remainder of her life to a worthwhile cause. Camila has decided to move to Havana to become part of Castro’s revolution. Her friend Marion has agreed to drive her to Key West where she will take a ferry the rest of the way.
The story now switches to Salomé’s first-person narration of her life story. She begins her tale as a six-year-old in 1856. In her native country of the Dominican Republic, revolutions occur on a weekly basis. She can’t keep track of who is in power—the blues or the reds.
By Julia Alvarez
Before We Were Free
Before We Were Free
Julia Alvarez
Homecoming
Homecoming
Julia Alvarez
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Julia Alvarez
How Tia Lola Came to (Visit) Stay
How Tia Lola Came to (Visit) Stay
Julia Alvarez
In the Time of the Butterflies
In the Time of the Butterflies
Julia Alvarez
Once Upon a Quinceanera
Once Upon a Quinceanera
Julia Alvarez
Return to Sender
Return to Sender
Julia Alvarez
Something to Declare: Essays
Something to Declare: Essays
Julia Alvarez
The Cemetery of Untold Stories
The Cemetery of Untold Stories
Julia Alvarez
The Daughter of Invention
The Daughter of Invention
Julia Alvarez