Josefina hopes to become a "curandera" or healer like Tâia Magdalena, and she is tested just before her tenth birthday when a friend receives a potentially fatal snakebite.
Josefina hopes to become a "curandera" or healer like Tía Magdalena, and she is tested just before her tenth birthday when a friend receives a potentially fatal snakebite.
JOSEFINA HOPES TO BECOME A "CURANDERA" OR HEALER LIKE TIA MAGDALENA, AND SHE IS TESTED JUST BEFORE HER TENTH BIRTHDAY WHEN A FRIEND RECEIVES A POTENTIALLY FATAL SNAKEBITE.
In the early 1800s, nine-year-old Josefina accompanies her father into the New Mexican mountains to check on the elderly shepherd who works for him, and she proves herself a good traveling companion when her father has an accident.
When Tía Dolores, the beloved aunt who has cared for the Montoya family since the death of their mother, announces that she is planning to leave, Josefina and her sisters try to find a way to change her mind.
In 1825, when Josefina trusts a trader in Santa Fe with an important deal, she makes a surprising discovery about this young American, who leaves town without paying her
'I stood there for a moment, silently speaking to myself: Josefina, you will survive this. You are strong. You are a fighter. You adapt.' As a young mum-of-three, Josefina Rivera was determined to get her troubled life back on track. But then she met Gary Heidnik and the next four months became a living nightmare. Along with five women Josefina was held captive in a cellar where she was starved, beaten, and repeatedly raped to fulfil Heidnik’s desire of creating a ‘family’ of ten children. Cellar Girl is the shocking but ultimately inspiring story of how one brave, young woman saved herself and others from a life worse than hell.