An Island Away – Daniel Putkowski (1)

Houston was a long tow through the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. The sea was where he belonged, even if it was in the com” pany of Shahann. He hoped his grandfather was still looking over his shoulder. “And Nate,” Jack continued, “no hurricanes, no shipwrecks, no fist fights. Okay?” BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — Luz and the family celebrated her mother’s birthday in high style. They ate together at a restaurant, which was the rarest of occasions.

Anna had wanted to have the party at the house, but Rudi insisted they go out. He had money to pay for the meal, for gifts, and some left over to put in the bank. Luz wanted to ask him where the money had come from but decided not to risk ruining the mood. Nine months ago, she had scampered through the airport clutching her purse as if she carried the Holy Grail inside. Every dollar she’d made in Aruba was in that purse.

Inez had warned her about bandits lurking outside the airport, but Luz had seen no one who looked like anything worse than a wary passenger anxious to get home. Less than an hour after landing, a taxi dropped her at the curb in front of her house. No one was home. She had time to hide her money, some of it under the kitch¬ en sink, the rest beneath a loose tile in the back of her closet.

Later, the family had been overjoyed to see her and greatly relieved when she handed Jorge their overdue payments. When all the bills were paid, Luz had more than a thousand dollars remaining. She took a week for herself and Hernan. Then she spent a month look¬ ing for a job. She found one, working for Senor Garcia at a grocery store which had opened around the corner from a quartet of brand new apartment towers.

This vivid and absorbing tale of personal endurance, bartered souls, and stifled ambition, unfolds against the backdrop of San Nicolaas, Aruba, Three people find each other here, on the other side of paradise, ‘where nothing is ever quite as it appears and yet more than any of them could have imagined, Luz, a young Colombian woman works as a prostitute to pay off her family’s debt.

She encounters Sam, an American expatriate looking to perpetuate his flamboyant youth. Together they find Captain Nathan Beck, washed ashore and barely alive after his tugboat sinks in a storm. For each of them, San Nicolaas provides hope amid desperation as they live dangerously and grapple with reality in pursuit of their dreams. Through it all, Charlies watchful eye sees the best and worst, knowing that on his desert island jow have to improvise.

An Island DANIEL PUTKOWSKI HAWSER PRESS HAWSER PRESS This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. AN ISLAND AWAY Copyright © 2008 by Daniel Putkowski All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

For information, contact Hawser Press at [email protected]. ISBN-13:978-0-9815959-0-0 ISBN-10:0-9815959-0-1 First Hawser Press trade paperback edition May 2008 10 987654321 danielputkowski^com FOR CHARLIE /lave le impravue. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/islandawayOOdani Lam/uage Quide THIS BOOK is written in English. However, to maintain the authenticity of the characters, portions of the text — particularly dialogue — appear in Papiamento and Spanish.

Most of this non-English text is easily understood in the context of the story. The guide below serves as an additional resource. (P) PAPIAMENTO ® SPANISH Carlotta: (^pronounced “cardotC’tah” Hernan: (s) pronounced “air-nan” Inez: (^pronounced “ee-nace” Jaime: (s) pronounced “high-me” Jorge: (^ pronounced “or-hay” Luz: ® pronounced “loose” Marcela: (^pronounced “mar-say-la” aca, aqui: (s) here hola: (?) hello, hi alia, alH: ® there linda: (^ pretty arriba: ® up lo siento: (s) I’m sorry bon dia: (?)

good day mismo: (^ same bon noche: (?) good night mucho gusto: (s) nice to meet you borracho: (X> drunk nombre: (^ name buenas dias: good day papi: (?)

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 4d45c5054c7b75eb
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 39,100,662 bytes (37.289 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9780981595900, 0981595901
• Pages: 501
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 1037.9 minutes
• Total Words: 207,580
• Total Characters: 1,140,476
• Average Words per Page: 414.33
• Average Characters per Page: 2276.4

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