The Cries of San Sebastian
Woman Overcomes Class Struggle, Rebellion, Betrayal and Deceit to Find Love in New Novel
New York, NY – When RosalÃa Hernández, the daughter of a powerful and feared Spanish landowner in 1860’s Puerto Rico, falls in love with a rebel peasant from the mountains of San Sebastián, she unwittingly becomes the focal point behind her father’s hatred toward the Creoles and African slaves. His relentless quest to kill anyone associated with the insurgency will erupt into a fatal confrontation. Anthony Ramos takes readers back in time, to colonial Puerto Rico, to examine the age-old hostilities between the Creoles and their Spanish masters in his new book, The Cries of San Sebastián (now available through www.barnesandnobel.com, www.amazon.com and www.publishamerica.com).
On a trip to their country estate in San Sebastián, RosalÃa soon learns that the world outside the mansion in San Juan is much different from the aristocratic world to which she been accustomed for the first eighteen years of her life. While in San Sebastián, RosalÃa becomes a witness to the harsh realities of Puerto Rico’s poverty, bigotry and diseases, and during a trip into town, she befriends and later falls in love with Miguel PÃtre, a peasant Creole farmer. Soon after their meeting, Miguel takes a huge risk in confiding in RosalÃa his rebellious ideals as well as his membership in a revolutionary cell dedicated to the liberation of his country. Determined to overthrow the Spanish government by violent means, Miguel has committed to giving up his life in the war for independence. Caught in the frenzy of a revolution and because of her love for Miguel, RosalÃa joins the rebellion, incurring her father’s wrath and becoming a victim of his brutal physical abuse. Angered that RosalÃa has fallen in love with a peasant and not with a man of his choosing, her father imprisons her in her own home and then sets out to determine whether the rumors of a rebellion are true.
Through spies and paid informants, RosalÃa’s father confirms that the plans for a peasant revolt are real. Fearing the rebels will bring about the loss of his financial empire, he plots to have the revolutionists arrested and Miguel hanged. As the rebellion moves forward RosalÃa’s relationship with Miguel blossoms, despite her father’s best efforts to thwart her happiness, and she will face a hard decision: whether to leave Miguel and rejoin her family or stay with Miguel and fight against her family and country.
Anthony Ramos was born in Wilmington, Delaware. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he grew up in East Williamsburg. Anthony is married to his childhood sweetheart for 31 years, has three children and four grandchildren. In The Cries of San Sebastián, Anthony masterfully weaves a fictional story of class struggle, love, betrayal and deceit with events from the island’s distant past; a past that has come to define the Puerto Rican people and culture today.
