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We arrived at my great-uncle’s in the morning. We had been on the run for a long time, fearing at every step that my father would be recognized by a former subordinate. The whole family welcomed [...]

– We lived in tents. There was none of the comfort we enjoy here: no beds, nor sofas, lamps, baths, heating. It was cold. We did not wash. We only ate meat. Sometimes grilled, sometimes [...]

Come closer, my dear child, that I might impart some of the experience I have garnered along the years, as wisdom, while my hair are not yet been tipped by white, has become my sweet companion. [...]

We often went to visit my godmother. Mother had my hair curled, she dressed me in chiffon, she made up my face with what she thought was sobriety. When we entered the beautiful house of our [...]

Whenever he came home, she quit whatever she was doing and ran to serve him. She threw herself down, took off his sandals, and wiped his feet. Then she poured him a glass of water, damped a cloth [...]

   An old woman raised me in a garret. We never visited anyone nor did anyone come to our house. Once or twice a year, a beautiful veiled woman climbed the narrow and dusty staircase. She sat on [...]

I would have liked to stay in our beautiful city, in our luxurious house, with its large tiled rooms, its patios full of plants, its living rooms with plush sofas, kitchens, cellars, workshops [...]

Servants, slaves, sharecroppers, day laborers lead a harsh life all in submission and destitution, as they depend on the will of their master. We women are not much better off, even though we [...]

The women arrived in a flutter of babble, rippling in their pink and yellow and sky blue clothes. They took their veils off, let their hair loose, and threw in the corners their slippers of silk [...]

I was always sick and she was always there by my side. I would wake up at night and see her. Her large eyes, shining in the dark, watched me. Every night. During the day too, she kept guard next [...]

The luxury of their boat, according to the maids whispering in the hall, was astounding. When I was in bed, irked by my day, I would imagine her and her husband on the deck, while the musicians [...]