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Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Epigraph
  4. Prologue
  5. Part One
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Part Two
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Part Three
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. Thirty
  38. Thirty-One
  39. Thirty-Two
  40. Thirty-Three
  41. Thirty-Four
  42. Thirty-Five
  43. Thirty-Six
  44. Thirty-Seven
  45. Thirty-Eight
  46. Thirty-Nine
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Part Four
  51. Forty-Three
  52. Forty-Four
  53. Forty-Five
  54. Forty-Six
  55. Forty-Seven
  56. Forty-Eight
  57. Forty-Nine
  58. Fifty
  59. Fifty-One
  60. Fifty-Two
  61. Fifty-Three
  62. Epilogue
  63. Author’s Note
  64. Acknowledgments
  65. Discover More
  66. Reading Group Guide
  67. Discussion Questions
  68. ESSAY FROMDIANA GIOVINAZZO
  69. Antoinette’s Sister
  70. Chapter One
  71. Chapter Two
  72. About the Author
  73. Praise forThe Woman in Red

José and his men moved on to our final ship, the Republican, Griggs’s ship. I stayed behind to collect the remaining bottles of rum. José came off the rowboat with a small group of his men. His face was pale and there were tears in his eyes. He took the crate that I held in my arms from me and handed it to one of his men.

“Anita, you are to stay here.”

“What do you mean? I can help.”

“Stay here!” he yelled.

“Wait, where’s Griggs?” I asked, looking around at the soldiers who had evacuated the Republican. Why were there so few, and why wasn’t Griggs with them? “José, where is Griggs?”

José took me by the shoulders. “I said I need you to stay here.”

Something was wrong. He shook me slightly. “Anita, are you listening to me? I need you to stay here. Promise me.”

I nodded my head yes.

“Say it!”

“I promise,” I whispered.

He looked to Rossetti. “Watch her.”

Rossetti put a delicate hand on my shoulder, but I pulled away, taking a step to the side. José took a few men with him and went about the business of setting fire to the Republican. When he jumped out of the small rowboat again, he stood next to me watching the funeral pyre put the sunrise to shame. I reached out and clasped his hand. He squeezed mine in return and we watched in silence as the ship burned.

Part Two

Part Two

Rio Grande do Sol, Brazil

Fourteen

Fourteen

January 1840

Our navy was decimated and over half of our men were dead. The battle of Laguna was a devastating loss to the Farrapos. As we rode away to safety José told me the fate of Griggs and the men on the Republican.

“They took the full force of the cannon fire.” He steered his horse closer to mine so that only I could hear his words. “When I found Griggs, I didn’t know he was dead; his back was to me. I called to him to evacuate. It looked like he was leaning against some crates. His arm was up, like he was in the middle of giving an order. When he didn’t respond I walked up to him, grabbing him by the shoulder, but he was already gone.” José shook his head. “He was frozen in the look he had in life, but a cannonball had cut him in two.”

“Oh God,” I said, breathing in sharply. “At least it was a quick death.”

“It was a soldier’s death. The only way he would want to go.”

My mind drifted to Ruthie. There was no cross to mark Griggs’s grave. No place for her to mourn the man she loved.