Burke talks with Journey author Stephen Mateo

Burke Allen talks with Stephen Mateo, the author of Journey, a riveting and touching account of the astonishing, harrowing, and dangerous odyssey of a brave 17 year-old boy who chooses freedom over tyranny, and in so doing, places his family and his own life in peril.  It is the story of a young boy becoming a man, finding his place in the world, and living with the heart-breaking guilt of having choosen the future over the past – and the consequences of that decision.

 Journey is the true story of a man named Tomas Castellano.  Now, a 78 year- old husband and father, Castellano recounts his life in Spain as a teenager under Franco’s bloody, tyrannical, fascist regime, and the journey he took, both figuratively and literally, over dangerously unforgiving waters. The year is 1945 and Spain is still reeling from a three-year, bloody civil war.  Franco is dictator.  Soldiers, trained by Hitler and loyal to Franco, wander the streets, unchallenged, killing anyone suspected of disloyalty to the Franco regime. Castellano, torn between his family and the desire for freedom, makes a decision that changes his life and those around him forever.

Without telling anyone, Tomas and his friend Antonio risk their lives to escape. They steal a ten-meter (32-foot) sailboat, owned by a General of Franco’s Civil Guard, in the middle of the night and set sail for America. Knowing little about sailing, they hand over their lives to the uncompromising sea. This story follows his extraordinary adventure, and the suffering a family goes through after waking up one morning to find their son has disappeared, not knowing whether he is alive or dead. 

Don't miss this show, and visit Stephen Mateo online at www.stephenmateo.com.