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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

The sun hung low in the sky as the cold night air moved in around me, bringing with it the scent of decay. I heaved myself out of the wagon and walked through the remains of what had been. Breathing into my hands, I rubbed them together in a vain attempt to keep warm.

I bent down to get a closer look at the faces frozen in their time of death. The first group contained no one that I recognized, just poor nameless souls who had gone on to meet our maker. I moved down the field to where a pair of boots stuck out from under a bush. I pulled the body by his boots, my breath coming out in fierce white clouds. It wasn’t my José but another soldier in his regiment. Moving on, turning over stiff, bloody bodies, I continued my search.

Using my skirt, I wiped the muddy faces of soldiers to get a better look at them. I had to find my husband. I had to know for sure. I moved on to the next group of dead soldiers.

As I got down on my knees, the weight of my stomach threw me off balance. I stumbled a little, catching myself on another mass of dead bodies. There were five men piled like broken dishes; the one at the very top rested facedown. I grabbed him by his shoulder and heaved him onto his back with all my strength. My stomach lurched as he slid down the mound, his face infested with maggots.

My stomach wanted to empty its contents right there all over the poor men. I scrambled back, filling my lungs with cold air that stung my nostrils. I looked up at the orange sky, watching as the vultures made elegant circles over the field. Gracefully they dipped down and came back up with a prize. If I was to find out the fate of my husband, I had to keep moving. I refocused on the task at hand, reaching down and pulling another body out of the decomposing pile. My stomach wrenched, and I spit bile into the muddy earth.

I stood up and nearly fell over as a spasm seized my back. There were so many bodies. Leaning against an abandoned wagon, I surveyed the wreckage around me. The remains lay slumped like abandoned playthings. Clutching at my stomach, I wondered how I was going to find my husband. One of the vultures swooped down and walked across the field, huffing as he went. My feathered comrade watched me. Taking a few steps forward, he turned his head from side to side, his black eyes meeting mine. He dipped his head, pulling out a juicy red treasure from one of the soldiers. Dry heaves racked my body as I looked away from the gruesome scene playing out before me.