The Canary Connection

Phillip Spolin

Description

The Canary Connection is an historical novel bringing to life events that revolutionize the world.

An everyday for peasants living on the Spanish coast becomes much more when Dante's desperate attempt to save his sister, Revela, casts their lives into an adventure of escape to new lands. They flee the family farm to journey in different directions pursued by Ygnacio de Silva, a psychotic incarnation of medieval ethics and the Spanish Inquisition. 

It is August 3,1492, Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain to the New World, AND it is the final day to comply with the King of Spain's edict expelling all non-Catholics under pain of death, thus the beginning the Jewish Diaspora. Was that a coincidence?

August 3, the Ninth of Av in the Hebrew calendar, a date burned in world history as the ports of Spain teem with escaping Jewish and Muslim families. Just who was on that boat when it left the Spanish port of Palos de la Frontera? 

The Canary Connection unfolds during this intriguing concurrence when Spain epitomizes intolerance, torture, and death. Dante and Revela join a group of Jewish exiles escaping the Inquisition and seeking refuge in the Canary Islands. Their lives entwine with key players of this archival moment, kings and queens, women and men of consequence and vision. World characters are presented with distinctive personalities and unique motivations, as those portrayed in Mantel's English history of Wolf Hall. The story boasts a new perspective that brings the past to life and confronts monumental issues that revolutionize mankind.

Table of Contents

PART I

Chapter

1 ........Trouble in Palos

2 ........Escape! 

3 ........Memories of Family 

4 ........Dante on Board 

5 ........Ygnacio & Lily Baragio & Debrun 

6 ........Welcome to the Inquisition 

7 ........David & Revela. 

8 ........The Castle Meeting 

9 ........At Sea 

PART II

10 ........Ygnacio de Silva 

11 ........Romeria 

12 ........At Sea 

13 ........Cristóbal Colón 

14 ........The Dream 

15 ........Luis de Torres & Cristóbal Colón 

16 ........Gotsun 

17 ........Santangel & Deza 

18 ........Granada Crostobal & Ysabela 

19 ........Santangel & Ferdinand 

20 ........Good-Bye 

21 ........Ygnacio & Lily 

22 ........Guanches 

23 ........Departures and Arrivals 

24 ........Crossing the Ocean Sea 

25 ........Merosa 

PART III

26  ........Bencomo 

27  ........Luis de Torres & Cristóbal Colón 

28  ........On Board 

29  ........Guanahani & Tenerife

30  ........Dante in the New World

31  ........Ygnacio & Lily

32  ........Cristóbal & Dante

33  ........Revela & Doramus & David

34  ........The Return

35  .........Cinchado

Readings

Sujets

• Diáspora
• Canarias
• Monarchy of Spain
• Guanche
• Sailing
• Canary Islands
• History
• Les Exilés (comics)
• Guanches
• Diaspora
• Inquisition
• Columbus

Informations

• Publié par: Phillip Spolin
• Date de parution: 20 septembre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781641365352
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE CANARY CONNECTION
PHILLIP SPOLIN
The Canary Connection is a work of fiction. Apart from the well-known actual people, events, and locations that figure in the narrative, all names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are fictitious. Any resemblance to current events or locations, or to living persons, is coincidental.
Copyright @ 2018 by Phillip Spolin All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-64255-552-3
Front Cover design by Per Lilistrom
Back Cover design by Mae Spolin
Map by Carolyn Joy Strauss, The Artists’ Career Coach
phillipspolin.com thecanaryconnection.com
Acknowledgment
Like the explorers in this book, mine was a journey, to understand theirs. In addition to those listed in the text and source reading material I’d like to express gratitude to my family and friends who encouraged me, and especially my deep affection and appreciation to friends and associates living in the Canary Islands. Without the inspiration and collaboration of my sister, Karen Spolin-Shivley, these pages would be empty. Through the years of writing The Canary Connection, help came from many people and in many forms, including from; Marilyn Atlas, Dr Susan Kushner-Scott, Jenny Laper, John Perry, Roberta Floden, Carolyn Joy Strauss, Wolfgang and Bridget Keisling, Scott Spolin, Per Lilistrom, David Valcarsal, Avi Schefres, Christina Fanti, staff of the The Los Angeles County Library - Agoura Hills Branch and Marina del Rey Branch, and staff of the The Santa Monica Public Library.
O sea! O myth! O sun! O wide resting place! I know why I love you. I know that we are both very old, And that we have known each other for centuries. O Protean, I have been born of you – both of us Chained and wandering, Both of us hungering for stars, Both of us with hopes and disappointments! JL Borges
Table of Contents PART I Chapter 1 Trouble in Palos Chapter 2 Escape! Chapter 3 Memories of Family Chapter 4 Dante on Board Chapter 5 Ygnacio & Lily ; Baragio & Debrun Chapter 6 Welcome to the Inquisition Chapter 7 David & Revela Chapter 8 The Castle Meeting Chapter 9 At Sea PART II Chapter 10 Ygnacio de Silva Chapter 11 Romería Chapter 12 At Sea Chapter 13 Cristóbal Colón Chapter 14 The Dream Chapter 15 Luís de Torres & Cristóbal Colón Chapter 16 Gotsun Chapter 17 Santangel & Deza Chapter 18 Granada Crostobal & Ysabela Chapter 19 Santangel & Ferdinand Chapter 20 Good-Bye Chapter 21 Ygnacio & Lily Chapter 22 Guanches Chapter 23 Departures and Arrivals Chapter 24 Crossing the Ocean Sea Chapter 25 Merosa PART III Chapter 26 Bencomo Chapter 27 Luís de Torres & Cristóbal Colón Chapter 28 On Board Chapter 29 Guanahani & Tenerife Chapter 30 Dante in the New World Chapter 31 Ygnacio & Lily Chapter 32 Cristóbal Colón & Dante Chapter 33 Revela & Doramus & David Chapter 34 The Return Chapter 35 Cinchado READINGS
Landmarks Back Matter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Title Page Copyright Page Acknowledgments Front Matter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter i 1 2 -->
PART I
Chapter 1 Trouble in Palos
D ante was running, trailing his dog Lusi. The dog was partner to the boy’s day-dream stories of danger and violence. Together, their adventures were imagined with courage and daring speed. The brown and white spaniel, camouflaged in the rolling pastures of southwestern Spain, charged across a stream and over a hill into a golden meadow of millet.
High above the laurel trees a red tailed hawk soared on the summer air-currents. Lusi exploded through the tall fesue grass, her tongue and ears flapping. The hawk dived, struck a rabbit, and rose into the sky, its talons clutching the meal. Defeated, Lusi conceding the prize, slowed to a loping gait toward a distant Dante. The boy heard a sound like an insect buzzing, then a muffled crack. Despite shading his eyes, momentarily blinded from the sun’s glare, Dante did not see Lusi falter and disappear into a soft patch of purple heather.

This is a time when the world itself is sentient, experiencing its own feelings. Purple mountains breathe a haunting purr, the sky smiles in contentment, and the endless ocean celebrates its regal, blue wetness. Man lives in nature’s indifference, evolving through ancestral extinctions, migrations, and plagues. Now, in the 15th century, man is living his deepest fears and hatreds.
Just before dawn, Dante is last to wake in the room he shares with two of his three brothers. Also shared on the Osorio family farm are the fields, each season defining their duties— the sod broken in March, seeded in May, harvested in August, threshed and winnowed in December.
On this summer day, Dante dresses his skinny body and eats a breakfast gruel prepared by his older sister, Revela. Early, on his way to the barn, a dark sea mist mixes with the acrid odor of goat scat. The boy snorts, muttering his discontent. Passing the solitary elm behind the house, he glances at his name carved several years ago with the farmer’s shank tied to his side.
From the window Revela calls, “Mind that you take care of that feed bin.” Although Dante loves animals, he resents the menial chores— feeding, milking, the shit detail – and does them half-heartedly. Then at day’s end, the work ritual finished, his spirits brighten in anticipation of going to the village port. There, at La Taberna Sirena, he will play his concertina. In the moldy air, sailors will favor him with a few coins that will provide family amnesty for his perpetual slacking. The boy looks forward to these eccentric, seafaring characters with tar-stained hands, coming from exotic lands, singing sea shanties with their bawdy mouths.
Anna Tee’s a hansom dame, She’s not a day past twenty. And when she’s had ‘er fill o’ ale, The focsil’s where you’ll find ‘er.
La Taberna Sirena serves as both a tavern and inn, and is as old as the port. Because of the sagging low-beams that canopy the dirt floor, it stands at an angle, like a ship hard-heeled. Strong wine from the island of Madeira, malmsey , fuels hard-shell men who revel in drinking, swearing and the company of prostitutes. For these men, slapping backs, trading lies, strength is the only quality that really matters to a life at sea, an honest life free of hypocrisy and deception, where the fear of death is their constant shipmate.
The alcohol produces song and laughter, but also a constant tension of meanness and violence. It seems at times the devil itself lurks in the shadows, waiting to cajole a man to cruelty and brutality. The year is 1492 and evil is pervasive, like a hellish virus, as the Spanish Crown and the Catholic Church cleanse God’s earth in Spain of witchcraft, satanic worship, and all non- Catholic belief.
Palos is a port city on the western most jut of Spain into the Atlantic Ocean. Smaller then Mérida, its neighbor to the north, it has a crusty reputation in the nautical community. Palos-born sailors are sought after by ship owners to be captains and navigators on vessels that ply the nearby North African coast, the Maghreb, for gold, slaves, and, spices. Often youth awake after a night of drinking to find themselves crew aboard outbound ships.
On this sweltering August day, Revela, tall and with a friendly face, accompanies her younger brother, Dante, to La Sirena. She occasionally works at the tavern, serving drinks and washing what there is to wash, her hands bearing the roughness of heavy work. To her, Dante is a free spirit, defending all things noble in a clumsy, teenage huff of kindheartedness. With a motherly instinct she is quick to shield him against the cruelties of their older brothers. “Stop that!” Demanding, “Get off him now! Leave him alone!”
They walk together toward the busy port and Revela’s brown eyes drop as she tries to console her brother over Lusi, killed that afternoon by a musket ball. Buffing her brother’s stringy hair and smiling, she says, “She certainly was lovely. Best hunter of the three. But don’t worry. You’ll find another just as fine.”
Dante snarls, “There will never be another dog like my dog.” He had found Lusi hours earlier with flies buzzing thick around the wound at the base of the dog’s neck. Despite his sister’s soothing words, it is unbearable for Dante to believe his dog is gone, as if the lead-shot that killed Lusi had pierced his own young heart. A stark vision of the laughing group of musket-bearing men stays with him. Their uniforms said they were the civil guard’s elite, the Cronistas de Armas , and Dante swore a child’s complicated revenge. He carried the dog home, sobbing, holding her against his chest, the slack body spilling over his arms, and buried her at the edge of the alfalfa field.
Approaching the port, they see the tavern’s familiar wooden sign swinging in the wind, a rough carved mermaid with a curled fishtail and flowing hair. The sea-nymph’s tempting eyes and inviting smile echo the lure of the sea. Here, seamen exchange tales of voyages and ship gossip. Little that occurs on the western coast of Spain is unknown to the inn’s patrons.
“I’ll meet you by the well-tree,” Revela calls out to Dante. “Let’s leave early,” she adds, mindful of her brother’s afternoon tragedy.
La Sirena’s