Prologue Summary

Silent Wing is Jose Raul Bernardo's novel of a young Cuban patriot, Julian, who is exiled from Cuba in the late 1800's for voicing opinions against the Spanish control of the country. Julian spends his life in pursuit of the cause of freedom, makes huge personal sacrifices for the greater good, and eventually becomes a revered figure among the Cuban people.

As the story begins, a beautiful young woman named Sol sits in her room in Guatemala in 1877 composing her thoughts on what to write in her diary about today's events. Sol's nanny, Xenufla has taken Sol to the place where people beseech Saint Rita for special requests. Xenufla thinks that Sol needs a husband, because the young woman is already eighteen-years-old and well past the time to be married.

Sol's beauty has attracted many young men, but she is uninterested in any...