I Existed

This book consists of three short stories, All-Girl Stage, I Existed, and Burning. The author uses real people and events around her as the material to tell the life stories of a group of women of different ages and destinies who refuse to be bound, arranged, and objectified and break out and transform. These women are true to their heart's desires and live passionately and authentically, regardless of what they have to give. They are also confused and hesitant and cautiously assess the situation. Misfortune and prejudice give rise to sharp confrontation, but they do not lose their tenderness. They give themselves generously to love but refuse to sacrifice themselves. They are, as Beauvoir said in his late memoir Tout Compte Fait, women who seek not to be women but to be complete human beings.