Overview

Set in the author's homeland, Colombia, this is the heartbreaking story of Leonor, former child soldier of the FARC, a rural guerrilla group. Paula Delgado-Kling followed Leonor for nineteen years, from shortly after she was an active member of the FARC forced into sexual slavery by a commander thirty-four years her senior, through her rehabilitation and struggle with alcohol and drug addiction, to more recent days as the mother of two girls. Leonor's physical beauty, together with resourcefulness and imagination in the face of horrendous circumstances, helped her carve a space for herself in a male-dominated world. She never stopped believing that she was a woman of worth and importance. It took her many years of therapy to accept that she was also a victim. Throughout the story of Leonor, Delgado-Kling interweaves the experiences of her own family, involved with Colombian politics since the 19th century and deeply afflicted, too, by the decades of violence there.

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9781682194478

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Reviews

"“[A] devastating portrait of unspeakable suffering.” —Kirkus “[Delgado-Kling] spares no one and condemns no one, writing about the country and the people she loves with honesty, grit and generosity. I couldn’t put this book down.” —Luis Jaramillo, author of the novel The Doctor’s Wife “The contrasts between Delgado-Kling’s and Leonor’s lives are stark, but the author’s capacity to bridge that distance both indicates her ambition as a writer and serves as a reminder of the utter pervasiveness of trauma.” —Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League “A compelling firsthand account of the greed, social neglect, and deliberate misrule that has forced many Latin American children and families to seek a better life in the arms of terrorist groups.” —Ernesto Quiñonez, author of the novels Bodega Dreams, Chango’s Fire, and Taina: A Novel ""[A] small but gutting work of memoir-meets-biography"" —Elle"

... writes with courage, deep insight and empathy about an important global human rights issue. The stories of Colombians are reconstructed here with delicacy, assurance and candor, and paint an intimate and detailed portrait of the author's homeland. The child soldier Leonor will not be forgotten. -Jeffery Renard Allen, author of the novels Song of the Shank, Rails Under My Back, Holding Pattern, Stellar Places, and Harbors & Spirits ... marvelous voyage of personal self-discovery provides the backdrop for a heartbreaking and vivid portrait of children caught between terrorism and growing up. This is an ingenious combination of memoir and commentary, a compelling firsthand account of the greed, social neglect, and deliberate misrule that has forced many Latin American children and families to seek a better life in the arms of terrorist groups. -Ernesto Quinonez, author of the novels Bodega Dreams, Chango's Fire, and Taina: A Novel ... incredibly well-researched memoir is a brave and devastating investigation of the decades of violence that have torn apart Colombia. [...] looks with unflinching grace at heart-breaking, complicated stories of trauma and survival, beginning with the story of the child soldier Leonor. But this is also a deeply personal memoir. [...] writes about how her family-involved since the nineteenth century with politics in Colombia-suffers from and is implicated in the violence. [...] spares no one and condemns no one, writing about the country and the people she loves with honesty, grit and generosity. I couldn't put this book down. -Luis Jaramillo, author of the novel The Doctor's Wife

“[A] devastating portrait of unspeakable suffering.” —Kirkus “[Delgado-Kling] spares no one and condemns no one, writing about the country and the people she loves with honesty, grit and generosity. I couldn’t put this book down.” —Luis Jaramillo, author of the novel The Doctor’s Wife “The contrasts between Delgado-Kling’s and Leonor’s lives are stark, but the author’s capacity to bridge that distance both indicates her ambition as a writer and serves as a reminder of the utter pervasiveness of trauma.” —Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League “A compelling firsthand account of the greed, social neglect, and deliberate misrule that has forced many Latin American children and families to seek a better life in the arms of terrorist groups.” —Ernesto Quiñonez, author of the novels Bodega Dreams, Chango’s Fire, and Taina: A Novel

Author Information

Paula Delgado-Kling holds degrees in comparative literature/French civilizations, international affairs, and creative writing from Brown, Columbia, and the New School, respectively. Leonor, for which she received two grants from the Canadian Council for the Arts, is her first book. Excerpts of this book have appeared inNarrative, The Literary Review, Pacifica Literary Review,and Happano.org in Japan. Herwork for the Mexicanmonthly news magazine Gatopardowas nominated for the Simon Bolivar Award, Colombia's top journalism prize, and anthologized inLas Mejores Crnicas de Gatopardo(Random House Mondadori, 2006).

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