Summary

In “Four Years Before I Existed,” Engle describes how her parents fell in love at an art school in Cuba even though they did not speak the same language. As a Cuban, her mother had been taught to refuse a proposal of marriage until the third request. Engle indicates that accepting her father’s proposal on the second request was an act of bravery on her mother’s part.

In “Flight,” Engle was barely talking when her parents first took her to visit her grandmother and great-grandmother, who still works in her garden, in Cuba. She refers to Cuba as a “fairy-tale kingdom” (7).

In “Voice,” Engle dares to sing like the songbirds in Cuba.

In “More Love at First Sight,” Engle describes how she fell in...