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1990s, 2000s: A moving memoir of a young girl growing up in Colombia
The Book of Emma Reyes
What you need to know before your trail
This astonishing memoir of a childhood lived in extreme poverty in Latin America was hailed as an instant classic when first published in Colombia in 2012, nine years after the death of its author, who was encouraged in her writing by Gabriel García Márquez. Comprised of letters written over the course of thirty years, it describes in vivid, painterly detail the remarkable courage and limitless imagination of a young girl growing up with nothing.
Travel Guide
Colombia
Emma was an illegitimate child, raised in a windowless room in Bogotá with no water or toilet and only ingenuity to keep her and her sister alive. Abandoned by their mother, she and her sister moved to a convent housing 150 orphan girls, where they washed pots, ironed and mended laundry, scrubbed floors, cleaned bathrooms, and sewed garments and decorative cloths for church. Illiterate and knowing nothing of the outside world, Emma escaped at age nineteen, eventually coming to have a career as an artist and to befriend the likes of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
“Our life took place in the streets”
What some would call a Dickensian upbringing, Reyes overcame a horrendous childhood to later become a top artist of her native Columbia. She wasn’t even literate until later in life, and this came about thanks to a chance friendship with Nobel LaureateGabriel García Márquez who encouraged Reyes to write the letters that later became this book.
Emma and her Helena, grew up together and their mother Maria immediately suffered from a severe case of post natal depression. The children were left to fend for themselves for days on end. The mother then decided to move around the country trying to improve her lot in life, although she seemed to drag the kids with her rather than have their best interests at heart.
The sisters are then moved into a strict orphanage run by nuns which was usually only the place where children outside of wedlock were shunned. Life there was little more than brutal.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Book of Emma Reyes
Destination : Colombia, Bogota Author/Guide: Emma Reyes Departure Time: 1990s – 2000s
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