The Ravine

Written in the mid-1950s, this torturous tale from Cuban-born, septuagenarian novelist Tejera shows a lesser known side of the Spanish Civil War through a young girl's eyes. Living with her extended family in the town of La Laguna on the Canary Islands, the young narrator, Nena, watches in terror as her papa, a Republican named Santiago, is carted away at gunpoint by the Franco Nationalists, or “arribistas.” After weeks of hardship and searching through courthouses for Santiago's whereabouts, a trial is organized by Grandpa and Alido, a lawyer friend of the family; the father is produced and tried for the trumped-up charges of attacking the bishop's residence and seminary. The war is ever present, like the frightening ravine on the outskirts used by the firing squad, and Nena's dismay at the dreary transformation of her village can only be mitigated by her father's return. Grief ages Tejera's brave heroine, as she recognizes she will never be a little girl again. (Jan.)