Alternating between Irene Vilar's notes from the psychiatric ward and her recounting of her family history, this is a meditation on family, and on the unspoken currents that have haunted a grandmother, mother and daughter. March 1, 1945: Lolita Lebron, a young Puerto Rican nationalist, opens fire on the United States House of Representatives, proclaiming, "I did not come here to kill, I came here to die." She is sentenced to life in prison. March 1, 1977: after attending her son's wedding in Puerto Rico, Gladys Mendez (Lebron's daughter) leaps to her death from a speeding car driven by her philandering husband, despite her eight-year-old daughter's desperate attempts to restrain her. February 1, 1988: recently arrived from Puerto Rico to attend Syracuse University, Irene Vilar (granddaughter of Lebron and daughter of Mendez) is committed to Hutchings Psychiatric Hospital following a suicide attempt.
- ISBN13 9781862070141
- Publish Date 19 May 1997 (first published 23 July 1996)
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 24 June 2013
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Granta Books
- Format Paperback
- Pages 334
- Language English