---
product_id: 66470861
title: "Before We Were Free"
brand: "julia alvarez"
price: "₪57"
currency: ILS
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 11
url: https://www.desertcart.co.il/products/66470861-before-we-were-free
store_origin: IL
region: Israel
---

# Before We Were Free

**Brand:** julia alvarez
**Price:** ₪57
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Before We Were Free by julia alvarez
- **How much does it cost?** ₪57 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.il](https://www.desertcart.co.il/products/66470861-before-we-were-free)

## Best For

- julia alvarez enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted julia alvarez brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

Before We Were Free

## Images

![Before We Were Free - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81WueYdjkeL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    An important book for kids
  

*by R***S on Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2021*

From all the awards she has won, it is obvious Julia Alvarez is an acclaimed writer and thus is very much worth reading. I read her non-fiction book about quinceaneras, the Hispanic fifteenth birthday celebration for girls, and I was fascinated by Alvarez’s story telling. Now, I have had the pleasure to read her book for young adults, Before We Were Free. It is a wonder. Alvarez sets her story in the 1960s regime of dictator Trujillo in her native Dominican Republic. Her protagonist is twelve-year-old Anita who is just a normal school girl whose life starts changing much too quickly for one so young. Being a young adult novel writer myself, I would never attempt to tackle the extremely adult subjects Alvarez works with here. Anita comes of age while going through a life that includes a brutal dictatorship, loss of friends, murder, and deaths of those she knows intimately. It is a story that is very hard to structure for young readers to understand and enjoy. But children have these extreme experiences every day throughout the world, and Alvarez herself lived through similar experiences in the Dominican Republic, so it is good for children to read about these matters and good for them to have Julia Alvarez’s beautiful and sensitive writing to get them through so that they come out with hope for a better world. Before We Were Free deserves its awards and the accolades it has no doubt received. I feel privileged to have discovered the book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Fantastic writer
  

*by N***R on Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2024*

I adore her writing and recommend her books. Fell in love with her writing when I read “In the Time of the Butterflies”.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Before We Were Free Review
  

*by J***D on Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2012*

Would you risk your family's safety for freedom? Anita's father was a part of the Underground and was trying to come up with a way to assassin the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Trujillo. The theme of this story is to fight for your freedom, regardless the difficulties that come with that. Anita's family is all moving to the United States and she doesn't understand why. The SIM (secret police) came to the family compound and searched for evidence of the family's involvement with the Underground. The novel then branches out and stems in many different directions. Throughout the book you constantly wonder, will the family ever be free? Julia Alvarez puts this story together in chronological order and uses many different writing techniques. This book achieves its goal of showing how fighting for your freedom may come with tragedy and hardships, but in the end, being free is worth the fight. In the novel Mami states, "At first, your father didn't want to endanger his family. But sometimes life without freedom is no life at all." Freedom, for many people, is one of the most important things in life. The difficulties of Anita's family, with Trujillo and having her entire family moving to the United States really makes readers able to connect to the Dominicans of this time. This was a heartfelt and inspiring novel that I would recommend to all.

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*Product available on Desertcart Israel*
*Store origin: IL*
*Last updated: 2026-03-30*