What You Have Heard Is True

A Memoir of Witness and Resistance

By: Carolyn Forché

Narrated by: Carolyn Forché

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.

Amazing and beautiful

The writing is eloquent and poetic. Listening to her voice I can imagine the smells, the places and the feelings she felt. I imagine being there with her and she brings me in close. The story is compelling and structured in a way that puts the pieces together slowly allowing me to savor the story at every turn. Truly beautiful.

Beautifully told

This painful history is beautifully told by this gifted writer and narrator. There are lessons about human suffering and endurance, cruelty and hope, all facets of humanity and inhumanity

Surprisingly compelling

The author as narrator worked well, which is not always the case. expanded my world.

Awful story beautifully told

The physical voice of the narrator was lovely and. made El Salvadore’s thought-provoking history of dictatorship and civil war easier to hear as did the interesting main characters and the author’s clear and patient telling.

excellent

This is an excellent captivating beautifully written memoir. Beautifully narrated too (by the author). highly recommended.