Part 1

Jose Bernardo's Silent Wing portrays the life and loves of Cuban poet and revolutionary hero Jose Julian Marti. The novel begins in Guatemala City, Guatemala, in the year 1877 and concludes twentytwo years later in Dos Rios, at the east end of Cuba in the year 1895. This is the story of a man compelled to speak, write, and take action on behalf of freedom, even if that means sacrificing his own true love and life in the process.

The narrative begins with Sol, "a beautiful young woman with dreamy dark eyes and long golden hair." She is seventeen, of marrying age, uninterested in any of the young men she has met. She converses with her nursemaid Xenufla, a Mayan Cakchiquel Indian woman. Xenufla intimates that "men can be a lot of fun." Sol is embarrassed but listens closely to her advice. Following Xenufla's instructions carefully, she visits a...