Description

2016 RONE Award Nominee
Shelly Dalton Smith goes to war-torn El Salvador to escape from trauma and family secrets but also in the hope of helping the refugees of a brutal civil war. As she photographs her host family and the people at the refugee center, she learns the many secrets and lies that must be told when one’s country is at war. Shelly falls in love with an American fighting with the guerrillas, forcing her to decide whether to put her own life in danger to help expose the truth of this horrible war.
This is a love story in every sense: love between a woman and the country she has learned so much from and the romantic love that is seen between several couples.

“Secrets and Lies in El Salvador?is written with passion, through the eyes of a na?ve and courageous young American woman who learns she is related to a left wing poet from the country. Involved with the rebel cause, she is drawn into the conflict as a photographer to document the ill treatment of political prisoners. Along the way, she encounters danger, prejudice, brutality and the unthinking cruelty of ill-educated people pushed into violence by a fascist regime. But she also finds the love of family, generosity, amazing bravery, true friendship and love.“?- Stuart Aken