Overview

In the second half of the nineteenth century, a wealthy Havana family undergoes a drastic lifestyle change when they move to a small provincial town at the other end of Cuba following the purchase of a sugar mill. The move becomes permanent but, over the years, the three Serrano children seek to get away: the oldest daughter, Graciela, goes to New York to free herself from the cultural bounds of Cuban society; the rebellious middle child, Carmela, elopes with a man she does not love and settles in a farm; the youngest, Alberto, goes back to Havana and becomes active in the incipient attempts to free Cuba from Spain's stifling rule. At the end, however, the three return home and meet their destinies. Throughout it all, the children's mother, Cecilia, holds the family together and manages to keep the sugar mill operating and providing tenuous support for their adventures. ""When Cubans Went to War"" is an absorbing family saga that unfolds during a critical decade in Cuba's history, told against the backdrop of the rise and decline of the sugar industry, the United States civil war, the efforts to end slavery, rebellion against Spain's tyrannical regime, and social inequality among Cubans and between them and the Spanish carpetbaggers that rule the island.

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Reviews

When Cubans Went to War is an illuminating narrative of an important period in Cuba's history, the decade that preceded the island's ten-year war of independence from Spain. The story focuses on the three children of a wealthy Havana family that, in the late 1850s, moves to a remote corner of Cuba to run a newly-acquired sugar mill. The children's lives center at first on the mill, but they then seek to move away from home and pursue their independent destinies. The Cuban-born author, Matias Travieso-Diaz, combines his literary skills and his deep knowledge of Cuba's history and its social mores to paint a fascinating picture of a society struggling to achieve a new character, free from the burdens of colonial rule. Paul A. Gaukler In When Cubans Went to War, the Civil War battles in the United States presage the start of similar battles in Cuba as the island begins to seek independence from Spain. These battles - over slavery, gender roles, and class attitudes - are reflected in the wealthy Serrano family. After the family moves from cosmopolitan Havana to a backwater to bet its fortune on the burgeoning sugar trade, they increasingly interact with slaves, peasants, and others marginalized by Cuba's colonial society. The growing Serrano children, curious and independent, become marginalized themselves as they explore their own identities and seek their own independence. Graciela, the eldest, explores freedom from traditional gender roles and escapes to New York to pursue forbidden love. Carmela, the middle child, explores sexual freedom with different men. Alberto, the youngest, explores Cuba's yearning for freedom from the yoke of colonial rule. The author, Matias Travieso-Diaz, is originally from Cuba and applies his deep knowledge of history, Cuba, and the arts, combined with his sharp black pen, to make When Cubans Went to War a fascinating and fast-moving story. Alex Ferrate

Author Information

Matias Travieso-Diaz is a former engineer and attorney who, following retirement, redirected his efforts towards fiction writing. He lives with his daughter and two dogs in the Washington, D.C. area. He describes himself as an ""Animal Farm's goat, Packers and Barça fan, and lover of opera, classical theater, jazz, Italian food and vino.""Born in Cuba, Matias migrated to the United States as a young man. He took up creative writing eight years ago and, since that time, he has authored a great number of short stories, over two hundred of which have been published or accepted for publication in short story anthologies, magazines, blogs, audio books and podcasts. He has completed three novels: The Taíno Women, set in Cuba's early colonial period; The Travels of Lázaro Serrano, set in Cuba and Jamaica in 1762-63; and When Cubans Went to War, dealing with the backdrop for Cuba's ten-year war of independence in the Nineteenth Century. He is working on a fourth novel that takes Cuba's history to its final independence in 1902.

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