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Fearful Breakers
Will José be drawn into the dangerous life of a smuggler? Or settle down to a quiet life in his father’s shop in Havana?
In 1760 Cuba, José Albañez, a free boy of color, resents his charming but unprincipled uncle Domingo’s pressure to join him to sea on one of his smuggling ventures. He would rather continue his studies at the Jesuit school and then follow his father into the joiner’s trade.
Instead, he finds himself struggling to master seamanship, lodging with a Jewish trading family on Jamaica in the aftermath of a slave revolt, and confronting kidnappers on Saint-Domingue. The arrival of a British fleet off of Cuba in 1762 forces him to decide where his future lies.
In 1760 Cuba, José Albañez, a free boy of color, resents his charming but unprincipled uncle Domingo’s pressure to join him to sea on one of his smuggling ventures. He would rather continue his studies at the Jesuit school and then follow his father into the joiner’s trade.
Instead, he finds himself struggling to master seamanship, lodging with a Jewish trading family on Jamaica in the aftermath of a slave revolt, and confronting kidnappers on Saint-Domingue. The arrival of a British fleet off of Cuba in 1762 forces him to decide where his future lies.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
492 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 27, 2023
6 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Janice Sebring
1 book3 followersJanice Sebring is spending her retirement writing historical fiction and volunteering on a tall ship. After graduating with a degree in history and Russian from Bryn Mawr College in 1981 and doing graduate work in Uralic and Altaic Studies, she put her regional knowledge to use as an economic analyst, counterterrorism specialist, and Russian linguist at the CIA. On leaving the Agency, she worked in IT, served as a children’s librarian, taught preschool, and homeschooled her son through high school. She lives in Virginia with her husband and two adult children.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 15, 2025
3.5 /5 (4 for atmosphere/setting, 3 for story)
When his father relocates the family from their small tucked away community in Cuba to the bustling Havana, Jose doesn't think he'll every truly feel like he belongs as much there as he and his father did working along side his Abuelo in the family carpentry business. Yet the new environment, the excitement of his father building his own offshoot of the family trade, and most of all his introduction to an education at the Jesuit school fill him with new venues to achieve all of his dreams. But looming over the life he loves is his father's promise to the uncle who's helped them throughout the years that Jose must spend a year at sea with him.
The summary provided by the publisher for "Fearful Breakers" is a touch misleading. It's billed as a story of a young man on a daring and somewhat unwanted adventure. That part of Jose's life is only a small faction of the story that doesn't even start until well into the later half if not third of the novel. To be truthful, I'm not entirely sure I'd even consider it a coming of age story. Rather, it seems that Jose's youth is the device that is used to write a love letter to the island and that era in time.
To the person who is curious about the conditions of daily life, politics, local traditions, the influence of religion, and social balances this will be a delight. I was deeply impressed with how Sebring really fleshed out her setting showing just how diverse and complex that time period in the Caribbean let alone Cuba itself was. Nor did it stop there as there was no escaping the global influences both in current events and those that led Jose's Scottish father and uncle to end up as businessmen on an island far away. It is also clear that the author knows her way around a ship. The book took on a whole second, vivid, life when Jose went to sea.
With that said, I found this book to be rather awkwardly balanced. While there was some dramatic shifts and occurrences the majority of this book is exceptionally quiet. That in itself isn't a fault. But despite eleven or so years being spanned in this book, I really didn't feel the character development. Yes, Jose kept having experiences but his inner monologue didn't progress very far in the same way the breadth of his knowledge did. In fact, what could have been seen as a decisive turning point is more of a circumstance in which there is no choice rather than maturity.
When combined with the snap shift in tone with high stakes and tumbling pace is such an abrupt change that I'm not sure if this was either the most considerate build up or the longest introduction to the actual story the author has in mind I've seen in quite some time. I picked up this title assuming it was a standalone. So meeting the end was a little disorienting. Where I otherwise might have been revved up for the next installment, I felt a little cheated. That's not to say I wouldn't be interested in seeing the next part of Jose's story. I just will have a better expectation to not be disappointed when the story is stretched out and covers not as much material as I usually find in a book this size.
When his father relocates the family from their small tucked away community in Cuba to the bustling Havana, Jose doesn't think he'll every truly feel like he belongs as much there as he and his father did working along side his Abuelo in the family carpentry business. Yet the new environment, the excitement of his father building his own offshoot of the family trade, and most of all his introduction to an education at the Jesuit school fill him with new venues to achieve all of his dreams. But looming over the life he loves is his father's promise to the uncle who's helped them throughout the years that Jose must spend a year at sea with him.
The summary provided by the publisher for "Fearful Breakers" is a touch misleading. It's billed as a story of a young man on a daring and somewhat unwanted adventure. That part of Jose's life is only a small faction of the story that doesn't even start until well into the later half if not third of the novel. To be truthful, I'm not entirely sure I'd even consider it a coming of age story. Rather, it seems that Jose's youth is the device that is used to write a love letter to the island and that era in time.
To the person who is curious about the conditions of daily life, politics, local traditions, the influence of religion, and social balances this will be a delight. I was deeply impressed with how Sebring really fleshed out her setting showing just how diverse and complex that time period in the Caribbean let alone Cuba itself was. Nor did it stop there as there was no escaping the global influences both in current events and those that led Jose's Scottish father and uncle to end up as businessmen on an island far away. It is also clear that the author knows her way around a ship. The book took on a whole second, vivid, life when Jose went to sea.
With that said, I found this book to be rather awkwardly balanced. While there was some dramatic shifts and occurrences the majority of this book is exceptionally quiet. That in itself isn't a fault. But despite eleven or so years being spanned in this book, I really didn't feel the character development. Yes, Jose kept having experiences but his inner monologue didn't progress very far in the same way the breadth of his knowledge did. In fact, what could have been seen as a decisive turning point is more of a circumstance in which there is no choice rather than maturity.
When combined with the snap shift in tone with high stakes and tumbling pace is such an abrupt change that I'm not sure if this was either the most considerate build up or the longest introduction to the actual story the author has in mind I've seen in quite some time. I picked up this title assuming it was a standalone. So meeting the end was a little disorienting. Where I otherwise might have been revved up for the next installment, I felt a little cheated. That's not to say I wouldn't be interested in seeing the next part of Jose's story. I just will have a better expectation to not be disappointed when the story is stretched out and covers not as much material as I usually find in a book this size.
October 23, 2023
This is real historical fiction, the kind that makes you forget the sad modern world around you and become lost in a different place and a different time, namely 18th century Cuba and the Caribbean. I love the author's initial description of Matanzas where the main character grows up. The characters are real without being too much like us, and you get a great sense of what inspires and animates them. The author clearly did a lot of research, but she doesn't hammer you with it. The novel also has a profound moral sensibility, especially about the evils of slavery. Instead of lecturing the reader, however, she allows you to empathize with brutalized slaves who are freed, and then recaptured or even kidnapped back into slavery. That's historical fiction that brings you into a world rather than lecturing you about it. I was sorry to see the story end at the Battle of Havana.
September 18, 2024
What a unique story and great read! Young Josè Albañez dreams of working alongside his father in his grandfather’s joinery in a small Cuban village. But hurricanes, war, social prejudice, village priests, family pressure and unforeseeable circumstances conspire against him, taking his life in a whole different direction as a seafaring trader. I hope you’ll enjoy following Josè’s voyages to adulthood as much as I did!
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May 18, 2025I felt like this ended just when it was getting good.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews