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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

Turning to the tree line, I realized how close it was, just a few steps away. I could disappear into the woods before my captors would even notice I was gone. The young soldiers in their tattered, dirty uniforms sat at the cart playing cards by torchlight on the other end of the field. They would never find me. I knew how to live in the wilderness a lot better than those boys ever could.

“Hey, senhora!” one of my guards called to me. “Are you going to finish anytime soon?”

“Not until I find my husband!” I called back to him. “Do you want to help?”

The men wrinkled their noses and went back to their card game. They were under strict orders to let me search, but those orders weren’t needed. They seemed to enjoy their time playing cards and drinking from a communal jug.

I picked up my skirts as I stepped over the dead bodies I’d already examined. Leaving now would be the easy way out, the coward’s way. I wiped away some hair that clung to my cold, sweaty face. I was no coward.

Moving methodically along the battlefield, I continued my search, stopping only when I saw a soldier I knew. I recited a short prayer for his soul before moving on to the next poor bastard. Not a single one was José, nor did any of them resemble him, with his auburn beard and curly hair. None of them had his soft eyes. I breathed into my hands and lifted them to my nose and face to soak in a bit of warmth. The field was large, and I was only one woman with a poncho, searching through the bitterly cold night for my husband.

As the pink morning sunlight cast its first rays over the valley of death, I moved along the northernmost perimeter of the battlefield. I turned to survey the work that I had done. In the course of the night I traveled north, going back and forth along the field. I stood there, shivering against the cold. José was alive, and I needed to escape.

But that was going to have to wait. I made my way back to the wagon. One of the soldiers yawned, opening his mouth wide and showing his rotted teeth. “Are you satisfied, senhora?”

“Yes.” I smiled. “My husband is not dead.” I got into the wagon willingly as the men exchanged nervous glances.

Nineteen

Nineteen

Back in the village, the Imperial officers brought me to a small shack where another man stood guard. “Only one?” I asked. He wasn’t much of a soldier. He was fat and old with thinning hair that had thick white flakes stuck in it. One of my captors pushed me into the house. I turned to look at him. “Careful, I am with child.” He looked back at me with disdain before turning on his heel and leaving.