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The author on horseback at the Hacienda Kambul

The time there was not limited to serious writing. We went horseback riding across the fields of henequén, whose fiber, like that of sisal, was traditionally used for rope and twine. Sometimes, we would relax in hammocks on the wide terrace of the casa principal. Often, we would travel out into the campo on the hacienda's narrow-gauge railway, on a flat-topped rail car pulled by a mule, called a plataforma.

Riding an hacienda plataforma.
The author's son on the right, the hacienda driver on the left, the mule in front.

We had no electricity, so evenings were short and mornings early. We had a huipíl-clad Maya maid, Bicha, who, along with a thin, old, lame Maya gentleman, Lázaro, helped us to provision ourselves on a close to starvation diet. We were sometimes very sick from the polluted water of the well, which had unwisely been dug right next to the horse corral. We boiled the water conscientiously, but Moctezuma exacted considerable revenge despite our efforts.

Stressful life at the Hacienda Kambul!
The author's son on the hacienda terrace; in the foreground their pet dog, a Mexican Maltese, named Mona, whose namesake appears in When the Owl Cries.

It was hard to leave Kambul behind despite the weight we'd lost. But my father had completed When the Owl Cries in the most appropriate setting for a book that seeks to recreate hacienda life, and we shared many happy memories of our outings and leisurely hours there.

REVIEWS OF THE BOOK

As already mentioned, When the Owl Cries was widely and enthusiastically reviewed throughout the country. The following are excerpts from some of these reviews:

"When the Owl Cries is a novel rich in pictorially vivid reading. As you turn the pages, you ask, What next? That is the immemorial appeal of the thriller. But what gives the story stature as a work of art is that Bartlett has been at pains to populate it with believable characters who are stirred by intensely personal concerns."—Charles Poore, in the New York Times

"The book charms with its expert knowledge of place and people."—Paul Engle, in the Chicago Tribune

"Vivid, impressive, highly pictorial. What makes it a pleasure to read are its marvelous vignettes of Mexican ways of life."—Lon Tinkle, in the Dallas News

"Only rarely is an American writer gifted with the perception and sensitivity required to translate into English the intensity and sense of tragedy of the Latin races."—Joe Knefler, in the L. A. Times

"Mr. Bartlett has given us a powerful, unusual and taunting novel, filled with characters as real as the headlines in today's papers, who move toward the inevitability of defeat like figures in a Greek tragedy."—D. Evan Gwen, in the Oxford Mail

"A Gone with the Wind of Mexico."—Library Journal

"The Spirit and atmosphere of Mexico breathe from every page of Paul Bartlett's poignant novel."—Clifford Gessler, in the Oakland Tribune

"This is a book the reader can see in his mind—on a wide screen in technicolor with stereophonic sound. It doesn't need Hollywood but it's the kind of story that wouldn't do the movies any harm."—Florida Times-Union

"The interiors are magnificent: the feeling one gets of candles and bronze and rosemaries and Spanish furniture and nostalgia and hatred."—London Times Literary Supplement

"The revolution is reflected in the crumbling of the great feudal hacienda system and the beginning of democracy... a warmly human novel."—Kansas City Times

"A novel of exploitation and retribution."—London Free Press

"A capably written novel about an exciting land and an exciting era."—Los Angeles Mirror News

"An intense struggle heightened by personal involvement, written with understanding."—Los Angeles Examiner

"A beautifully atmospheric tale with a punch."—Washington Post

"Bartlett has pinpointed the struggle between the old order and new—between father and son."—The Atlanta Journal

"One of the high-ranking novels of the year."—Worchester Telegram

"A dramatic, well-written symbol of transition."—San Jose Mercury

"Achieves a totality of effect that reminds one of Poe."—Wichita Falls Times

"If you like to feel the exotic made factual, here it is."—Saskatchewan Star-Phoenix

"A lively and richly picturesque chronicle of a Mexico that was."—Chicago Sun-Times

"A book of substance and depth—beautifully, poetically written.—Moberly Monitor-Index

"A skillfully written novel, interwoven with color and excitement."—New Bedford Standard Times

"A suspenseful story."—The Diplomat

"A story of change, love, violence, and corruption that moves fast."—Sacramento Bee

"A penetrating novel, with wonderful scenes and rich understanding."—Long Beach Press Telegram

"Filled with impressive details of landscape and Mexican life, all presented with an artist's eye."—Richmond News Leader

PUBLISHED BOOKS BY PAUL ALEXANDER BARTLETT

The author sketching an hacienda

NOVELS

VOICES FROM THE PAST—A Quintet of Novels, consisting of

* Sappho's Journal
* Christ's Journal
* Leonardo da Vinci's Journal
* Shakespeare's Journal
* Lincoln's Journal

When the Owl Cries

Adiós Mi México

Forward, Children!

POETRY

Wherehill

Spokes for Memory

NONFICTION

The Haciendas of Mexico: An Artist's Record

THE AUTHOR

Paul Alexander Bartlett was a writer