The powerful story
of a young poet who becomes an activist through a trial by fire
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.