Before We Were Free

Anita attends an American school in the Dominican Republic. When the novel opens, she is sitting in Mrs. Brown’s class, preparing skits for Thanksgiving, which is two weeks away. Her cousin Carla Garcia is in the class with her. The door opens and Carla’s mother, Tia Laura, is there, looking worried. Mrs. Brown asks Carla to collect her things and follow her. On the way out, she looks at a picture of a man she calls El Jefe hanging on the wall and feels that he gives her strength. Anita goes outside and gets into a car with Papi, Tia Laura, and Carla’s younger sisters, Sandi and Yo.

Papi says that the Garcias have permission to leave the country. They’ll be flying to the United States of America in a few hours. Anita’s grandparents went to New York at the beginning of September. Her uncles and aunts had gone in June. Once the Garcia cousins leave, Anita realizes that only her family will be living at the compound. But Papi says they’re not going, because he has to stay and mind the store.

At the Garcia house, Anita’s mother,