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The Firefly Letters
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The Firefly Letters (edit title/settings)

A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba

by Margarita Engle (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

The freedom to roam is something that women and girls in Cuba do not have. Yet when Fredrika Bremer visits from Sweden in 1851 to learn about the people of this magical island, she is accompanied by Cecilia, a young slave who longs for her lost home in Africa. Soon Elena, the wealthy daughter... read more

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Fredrika Bremer: A Swedish woman journalist who left her fortune and family to travel the world.
  • Cecilia: A 15 year old slave girl who was taken from her native Congo when she was eight. She is married to Beni, pregnant, and has a lung sickness.
  • Elena: A twelve year old rich girl whose family owns Cecilia and Beni. She concocts a plan to buy Cecilia's child's freedom.
  • Beni: Cecilia's husband. He is a skilled horseman.
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Elena abd her mother move like shadows lost in their private world of silk and lace. Page 11”
    Fredrika
  • “I remember wild animals near the river-- crocodiles, hippos and leopards who made the night terrifying. None of these beasts were as frightening as people--the strangers who came with guns to seize children or with goods to buy children.”
    Cecilia
  • “I have always imagined that a gentle climate would make people gentle too... but that is not the way of the human heart when it is lost in the selfishness of greed.”
    Fredrika
  • “In the evenings I look over Fredrika's shoulder as she writes letters with fireflies resting on her hand.”
    Cecilia
  • “I do not care if my sketches are rough and messy—drawing pictures on wings of paper makes me feel like an angel of God sketching plans for the creation of an entirely new world, one without sorrow or pain.”
    Cecilia
  • “— in some distant future when women will be free to do more with their lives than just sit behind bars, embroidering cloth for a hope chest that brings no hope.”
  • “Poor deluded Mamå.She loves me, but her dreamsand mine are like two islandsseparated by the waves of a deep sea.”
    Elena

Setting & Locations edit see section history

Cuba

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Margarita Engle (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

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Page Count: 151

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Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

This is more of a short story than a full-blown book. Easy and simple to read although it touches on complex themes and has heavy symbolism.

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