Into the Abyss and Back Again

The Mad Patagonian #2

by Javier Pedro Zabala, Peter Damian Bellis (Editor), Tomás García Guerrero (Introduction)

The novel as a whole follows the fortunes of Escolástica and Isabel Vda De Miranda, two clairvoyant sisters from Logroño, Spain, and their descendants. The younger sister, Escolástica, emigrates from Spain to Cuba with her uncle, Andres Escoraz, in 1899 in search of the paradise of new beginnings. Her descendants eventually make their way from Santiago, Cuba to Havana to Miami. The older sister, Isabel, marries into a family from Vera de Bidasoa, Spain and moves to the mountains and later fights against the Fascists. Her grandchildren immigrate to the United States in 1939 and also eventually settle in Miami. Neither branch of the family knows of the other.

Part Two tells three stories. The first is the mythic story of how Escolástica Escoraz Vda De Miranda and her uncle Andres journeyed to Santiago, Cuba, circa 1900-1907, a tumultuous period in Cuban history when forgotten poets lingered in the shadows before descending into oblivion, the determined followers of José Martí were still seeking liberty and equality for every Cuban citizen, and brujería magic was a force to be reckoned with. From Santiago they travel to Havana. Andres settles in Havana, but Escolástica, believing her life is in danger, leaves Cuba for Puerto Rico, where she takes refuge in a convent. The second story takes place in Havana (1920-1958) and is set against a backdrop of swanky, exclusive nightclubs overflowing with the sounds of sultry danzón singers. The story is primarily about Oscar Garcia Raimundi, a protégé of a second-tier gangster, Luis Sarabia, and his boss, the remorseless Giuseppe Federico DiCarla. The gangsters are battling a group of mysterious anarchists for control of Havana. These anarchists are from Germany, ex-Nazis mainly, and believe they are working for a sinister, alien (as in outer space) race intent on subjugating the Earth. How Oscar escape from Cuba and what happens to the others is the essence of this second story. The third story is about what happens to Oscar after escaping to Florida. This story is told from the perspective of Isadora Calzada (the granddaughter of Escolástica Escoraz Vda De Miranda), who marries Oscar in secret and then lives out her life with Oscar until Oscar is murdered. This third story concludes with an investigation by a homicide detective into the murder of Oscar Garcia Raimundi.

742 pages, Paperback

Published August 20, 2021

About the author

Javíer Pedro Zabala was a product of the multicultural forces that have been shaping the Americas for over five-hundred years. His father, Miguel Octavio Cercas, was born in Matamoros, a border town in northeastern Mexico. His mother, Anabelle Elizabeth Zabala, whose surname he ultimately kept, was from Miami, Florida. Zabala was born in Miami in 1950 but moved to Mexico with his father in 1964. In 1976, while living in Mexico City, he married Blanca Barutti, a recent graduate of the Facultad de Medicina UNAM. Blanca was originally from Santiago, Cuba. After a short honeymoon, the couple moved to Cuba and took up residence in a tiny cinder block house with a tin roof and a view of the Caribbean Sea in La Boca, Cuba, a small seaside village in Sancti Spíritus province. He lived in La Boca for the last twenty-six years of his life. He was unknown as a writer during his lifetime and died in June 2002 at the age of fifty-two of an aneurysm, two months after he had completed his novel, without fanfare, unnoticed by anyone save his daughter.