Mona Passage
by Thomas Bardenwerper
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Pub Date Nov 15 2021 | Archive Date Dec 31 2021
Description
Veterans Writing Award Honorable Mention
On a moonless night, two vessels converge in the Mona Passage, a stretch of ocean separating Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. One is a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the other a primitive motorboat overloaded with Cuban migrants. In that moment, a young Coast Guard officer must make a decision that could save the life of a woman he knows while possibly ruining his forever.
Mona Passage is the story of two neighbors in San Juan, Puerto Rico: Pat McAllister, a Coast Guard officer whose cutter patrols the Caribbean Sea for drug traffickers and migrants, and Galán Betances, an entrepreneur who escaped Cuba by raft as a child, leaving his mother and his special-needs sister behind.
Pat and Galán bond during evenings spent atop their Calle Luna rooftop, as they share beers and trade stories from their distinct worlds. In time, Galán becomes like an older brother to Pat, whose actual beloved brother, Danny, is suffering back home from the emotional scars incurred as a soldier in Iraq.
When Galán returns to Cuba for his mother’s funeral – his first time back on the island since his traumatic departure decades before – he learns that his sister, who is now alone, will be committed to a poorly run mental health facility. With no way to bring her legally to the U.S., Galán considers whether Gabriela could make the risky journey to Puerto Rico via the Dominican Republic and Mona Passage. Pat, whose Coast Guard cutter routinely interdicts these boats loaded with migrants in search of a better life, warns Galán that such a journey will be treacherous—perhaps fatal. Aware of the dangers but determined for Gabriela to live a full life, Galán hands over all of the money he has to a Dominican smuggler based out of a San Juan nightclub, and Gabriela begins her terrifying journey.
Knowing that his cutter may be all that separates Galán and Gabriela—and haunted by the human suffering he has witnessed at sea—Pat must decide. Will he remain true to his oath, as his older brother had done in Iraq? Or will he risk his own future—and perhaps his freedom—for his closest friend?
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9780815611394 |
| PRICE | $29.95 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Polly K, Reviewer
Leaving Cuba illegally for the US left Galan Betances separated from his mother and sister. After establishing himself in Florida, Galan finds that he must save his sister and arrange for her passage to the US. Using the Mona Passage to Ile de Mona to gain Puerto Rico’s protection is a hugely expensive and highly illegal transit, but he has no choice. With the help of a Coast Guard friend, it may turn out to be he and his sister’s only hope. Recommended reading and very well written.
Karen P, Reviewer
Block buster beginning and climax for debut novel, Mona Passage, by author Thomas Bardenwerper. The author served five years in the U.S. Coast Guard aboard cutters including time in Puerto Rico. The opening of the book took me back to my childhood and hearing about courageous Cubans finding their way to freedom by crossing the waters to Florida on old boats….In this book, the Betances family tries to take this journey. Galán and his father, Gustavo, succeed in the journey while his mother Josephina and little sister get scared and turn back to shore. At this point, I was nervous for this family. The novel skips ahead to 2015 and we meet Lt. Pat McAllister on a Coast Guard Interceptor that looks for Cubans trying to get from the Dominican Republic to sanctuary through the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico. Pat is Galán’s neighbor in Puerto Rico, and they became friends. Galán is desperate to get his younger mentally handicapped sister out of Cuba. The story is told by both Pat and Galán and moves between the past and 2015. You will want to read this fast paced story. I am sure you will see decisions are not just black and white. My thanks to Syracuse University Press, Bookishfirst, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.
Molly M, Reviewer
THE MONA PASSAGE
This book is deceptive in its simplicity. It reads like a nice story about Galán Betances, an immigrant from Cuba living in Puerto Rico, who needs to bring his adult sister with mental health issues to the United States to avoid having her placed permanently in a Cuban care hospital. He becomes friends with his new neighbor Pat McAllister, who is a lieutenant on the Coast Guard interceptor “Strickland”. McAllister works with Customs and Border Protection in the waterway between Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico: The Mona Passage. What could possibly go wrong?
As Galán and Pat’s friendship develops, we learn about their families and love interests, as well as their current daily activities of work and fun. It’s a continuous back and forth between present and past, and done exceptionally well. The characters’ situations and their reactions to them are presented in such a realistic and subtle yet detailed way that you truly feel that they are real people. You can see their good and their bad and you can feel it.
The Mona Passage addresses many complex issues, including illegal immigration, human trafficking, Immigration Law, mental health, family values, PTSD, military service, drug abuse, love, loyalty and friendships. It’s all woven so seamlessly into the story that it feels so real and gives meaning to the words. No real right or wrong, just reality.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Thomas Bardenwerper, and Syracuse University Press for the opportunity to read and review this very thoughtful book.
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