Soldiers Cry at Night

The quantum action of the novel encompasses chronological milestones in the dramatic fate of Spain. The Asturian "Red October" of 1934, February 1937 — the successes of the Republicans near Madrid, then the fall of Malaga — one of the harshest blows to the republic, January 1939 — Barcelona fell, a Catalonia that desperately resisted the interveners lived its last days, and only a few weeks remained until the death of the people's Spain.
And although there were no large-scale open battles on the island, events nonetheless took place here, actions were committed that inevitably reflected universal human contradictions.
At the end of 1934, Jeza arrived on the island; he was to get to the bottom of local affairs and report to the Central Committee of the party in Madrid. When war broke out a year later, during one of the raids, Jose Tarongha (Manuel regarded him as his father), Simeon, and Zacharias were captured. In February 1937, Jeza was arrested and thrown into prison. He was killed in mid-October 1938, and in January 1939, Jeza's wife fled from the island occupied by Francoist forces. Marta and Manuel lost Jeza, Spain lost the republic. Such are the parallels.
Even strong-spirited soldiers will long weep at night for their fathers and brothers.
A nervous novel, uneven, dynamic in style. It encompasses the entire range of feelings and thoughts of the characters: doubts, despair, depression, hopes, the weight of the past, and aspirations for the future. Marta's story is a troubling prelude that ultimately leads her to a conscious departure from the past and a connection with Jeza's fate. Jeza firmly defends the idea of intervention in life in the name of universal freedom. Manuel also knew Jeza, a person who represented the meaning of life for both of them simply by existing. "You are still in me, in Manuel, in all people, in the very land." Jeza is a symbol, a symbol of dreams, the defeat of dreams, and new hope.

"As long as we are alive, as long as we have strength, we protest against oppression, hypocrisy, and injustice." — Ana Maria Matute