The Three Marias take as their inspiration the seventeenth-century European classic , five passionate missives supposedly written by Sister Mariana Alcoforado to the soldier-lover who had deserted her. These modern Marias weave tales, poems and meditations around the myths and reality of contemporary women's lives, a text that still engages readers today. When it first appeared, the book was banned, and the authors were arrested and charged with obscenity and abuse of freedom of the press. Today remains as fresh and challenging as when the cause of the Three Marias first lit a flame of international protest by women and for women.