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Thomas Bardenwerper (Mona Passage) Author Talk and Q&A at Bank Square Books
02/24/2022 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Free
Bank Square Books presents an author talk and Q&A with Thomas Bardenwerper for the new book, Mona Passage.
About the Book
Mona Passage is the story of two neighbors in San Juan, Puerto Rico: Galán Betances, a Cuban emigrant, and Pat McAllister, a young Coast Guard officer. During long evenings spent together talking on their Calle Luna rooftop, a deep friendship develops based on shared traumas and a common desire to heal. When Galán learns that his sister, Gabriela, is going to be committed to a mental health facility in Cuba, he plans her escape to Puerto Rico. Pat, whose Coast Guard cutter patrols the Mona Passage for drug traffickers and migrants, warns Galán that such a journey will be treacherous—perhaps fatal. Aware of the dangers but determined for Gabriela to live a full life, Galán hands over all the money he has to a Dominican smuggler based out of a San Juan nightclub, and Gabriela begins her terrifying journey.
Knowing that his cutter may be all that separates Galán and Gabriela—and haunted by the human suffering he has witnessed at sea—Pat must decide. Will he remain true to his oath, as his older brother had done in Iraq? Or will he risk his own future—and perhaps his freedom—for his closest friend?
On a moonless night, two armed vessels converge in the Mona Passage, and three lives change forever.
About Thomas Bardenwerper
Thomas “Buddy” Bardenwerper served five years in the US Coast Guard aboard cutters homeported in Maine and Puerto Rico. He participated in humanitarian and law enforcement missions from the Gulf of Maine to the Caribbean Basin. After being medically retired for Type 1 diabetes in 2018, Bardenwerper began a joint degree program at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Upon graduation in 2022, Bardenwerper will be moving to Miami with his wife and daughter. “Mona Passage” is his first novel.
