The Mistresses

The Mistresses, by Yanette Trujillo Ramírez, presents a diary of raw emotions in which women tell their own love stories. The book does not seek to justify or condemn; instead, it offers a deeply human perspective on desire, hope, loss and the search for identity.

“We all deserve to be heard. Every poem and every photograph is a tribute to the complexity of the female experience, told with sensitivity, respect and complete confidentiality,” Trujillo says.

Here, a voice is given to women in love whom everyone talks about, but who are rarely listened to. These are love stories that did not have a happy ending.

“We have all experienced or gone through a pain that consumes us from within, but we can also all help one another move forward. We are not alone; there is always someone worth living for, there will always be someone willing to help, even if it is only through a child’s smile; there will always be someone who listens to us, there will always be something that drives us to climb out of even the deepest hole. There is just one detail,” the author adds.

Being a mistress is not a new subject. For years, literature has repeatedly explored marriage, betrayal, heartbreak and guilt. History has also known remarkable women who became famous for the power they managed to accumulate, often after becoming the mistresses of important men. Among them are Theodora of Byzantium, La Calderona and Corinna, for example.

Throughout the book, readers encounter the emotions of ordinary women who loved intensely, who were kept hidden, who waited too long and who eventually learnt to rebuild their lives: the mistresses.

Each text is accompanied by an image that invites the reader to look beyond labels and discover the side of these silenced women that is so rarely heard.

The book seeks to embrace, support and open up a much-needed conversation about a reality experienced by many women around the world.

“I did not write The Mistresses to say who is right. I wrote it to remind people that behind every love story there is also a woman whose version deserves to be heard,” Yanette says.

Extract from The Mistresses

I have spent whole days staring at my hands. I want to move them, but I cannot, or perhaps I do not want to; I do not know. My mind will not let me tell the difference between what I am able to do and what I want to do. I have spent whole days without speaking. I know because hundreds and hundreds of words crowd together in my mind, yet none of them makes any sense. It is as though they are all desperate to get out but cannot find the way. I have spent whole days trying to listen, but I do not want to, because none of it is you, because nothing sounds the way you sounded; everything feels so different, so distant and unfamiliar that I have no interest in knowing anything about a world without you.

I have spent whole days searching for an answer, and every time I am about to find it I remember that I am not the one who has the answers. I remember that I am not myself now, that I have no interest in knowing what lies beyond. I remember that these four white walls, this medication and this damned straitjacket will not let me think, and then I have to begin all over again.

I have spent whole days unable to wake up. I do not know what is happening. I feel absolutely nothing, as though the world has stopped.

About the author

Yanette Trujillo Ramírez is a specialist in Finance and Corporate Governance. After more than 25 years working in the financial sector, she has moved into literature with The Mistresses, a book that brings together private confessions and photographs to create an emotionally charged narrative experience for the reader.