Alive in Their Garden : The True Story of the Mirabal Sisters and Their Fight for Freedom

The lives and legacy of the iconic Mirabalsisters, as told in an intimate memoir by the sister who survived

“This is the book I wish I’d had on hand as I was writing In the Time of the Butterflies.”—From the introduction by Julia Alvarez

In 1960, thethree sisters Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal, code-named “Las Mariposas” (The Butterflies)by a Dominican underground resistance movement, were assassinated by order of dictatorRafael Trujillo. Alive in Their Garden is the memoir of Dedé Mirabal, their surviving sister, who for decades kepther sisters alive in Dominican memory. This is the first English translation ofDedé’s story, an intimate account of a tragedy and the international outcry that,for many, heralded the fall of the Trujillo dictatorship.

Inher memoir, Dedé recollects her sisters’ lives and personalities, the optimisticbeginning of the 14th of June Revolutionary Movement, and the tragic day of hersisters’ murders. She details the emotionally charged court proceedings thatfollowed and the impact these events had not only on the Mariposas’ childrenand family but on the world. Along her journey, Dedé grapples with thequestion, “Why did they not kill you too?” And as time goes on, she comes torecognize her own important role: raising her sisters’ children alongside herown and working to preserve the memory of a generation.

Thisedition features the memoir’s original introduction by Julia Alvarez, author ofIn the Time of the Butterflies, a chronology by historian Bernardo Vega,and an afterword by Minerva’s daughter Minou Tavárez Mirabal. Adding a preface and explanatorynotes that orient readers to the Trujillato in the Dominican Republic, translatorsand editors Ana Martínez and Heather Hennes bring a moving true story andvaluable piece of history to new readers.

Publicationof this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the AmericanRescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.