Bitter Sugar

Galicia, 1853. The dampest, rainiest winter in all memory has ruined the fields, and then, following the famine, a deadly cholera epidemic strikes the people. In search of salvation and hope for a decent life, the people of Galicia decide to leave: they sail to Cuba, counting on earning money on sugar plantations. But the journey and the new “work” turn into ordeals so severe that their trusting imaginations could not have foreseen.

This is a real story of 1,700 young men who went to Cuba looking for work—and ended up in slavery by the will of Urbano Feijoo de Sotomayor, a native of Galicia who settled on the island.

“Bibiana Candiа managed to pull from oblivion the story of Galicians who were turned into slaves in Cuba in the 19th century. In her wonderful prose, you can hear the voice of everyone who set out on that voyage, not knowing what awaited them on the other side.” – Rebeca García Nieto