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Back The Woman in Red Save as PDF
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

Would there be a cross to mark José’s grave? Where would I go to mourn him when he died? My heart hurt for Ruthie and Griggs. Neither of them deserved this fate. I didn’t get to see her to say goodbye, but I knew she would go back to General Gonçalves’s estate. Once a favored servant in the household, she would be welcomed back with open arms.

My thoughts drifted. When you are awake for well over twenty-four hours, your mind can make you believe just about anything. I could see the faces of every sailor we lost in the foliage of the trees we passed. At the turn of the bend, Griggs was there, his roguish smile on his face. He winked, then put a finger to his lips before disappearing. I shook my head and looked back over the path.

My limbs felt heavy. Keeping my eyes open became my sole focus on the trail leading from Laguna to the untamed northern border of Rio Grande do Sul. If it weren’t for the angry rumbling of my empty stomach, I’m not sure I could have stayed awake.

“We should be moving faster,” Rossetti complained loudly from two horses away. His long face shone with sweat. The perfectly tailored black suit that he always wore was tattered. He pulled sharply at his horse’s reins, making the animal swerve sharply to the right. “We don’t know whether or not the Imperial army is following us. I swear I could walk faster than this beast!”

“That’s because you are doing it wrong,” I called. I pulled my horse back and navigated to the right, bringing myself between José and Rossetti. “Don’t hold so tightly to the reins, and when you want to move don’t pull so hard. Just a gentle nudge will do.” I looked over to José, who was struggling with his horse as well. “Your knees are pressing in too tightly. The more relaxed you are, the more relaxed she’ll be.” José did as I said, and his horse immediately calmed down.

Rossetti scowled. “How do you know so much about horses?”

“Because while your nose was in a book, I was trained to ride a horse. I’ve been riding since before I could walk.” Without warning I grabbed José’s hat and threw it as far as I could out into the air ahead of me. Kicking my heels into my horse’s side, I peeled away after it. As we approached the hat lying on the ground, I swung low from my saddle and scooped it up in my hands. I held José’s hat high to the air as I pulled back on my reins causing my horse to rear up on her hind legs. “Perhaps not everything is better in Italy!”