The alphabet in my hands

the long version

"Agosin's childhood and early adolescence was spent with her Jewish family in Chile in the 1960s and 1970s. While her family raised her to regard her Jewish heritage with loving awareness, they also appreciated the dominant Catholic culture: an aunt organized Easter egg hunts and her mother admired the beauty of Chile's Catholic churches. The young Agosin became keenly aware of her dual identity in her country, both as a participant and an outsider.". "The second half of The Alphabet in My Hands recounts the events that forced her family to emigrate to America: the overthrow of Salvador Allende by General Augusto Pinochet. Agosin writes of her new life in Athens, Georgia, of the sudden loss of all that was familiar. Ostracized as an immigrant - a blond "non-white" with a strange foreign accent - her high school years were made even more painful by the news from Chile: prisoners taken and classmates disappearing or shot.". "In the final chapter of The Alphabet in My Hands, she addresses two important topics: her current residence in New England and the central role of writing and literature in her life."--BOOK JACKET.