Author Thomas “Buddy” Bardenwerper will be at Bank Square Books in Mystic at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24 to talk about his new book “Mona Passage.”

Bardenwerper served five years in the U.S. Coast Guard aboard cutters homeported in Maine and Puerto Rico, participating in humanitarian and law enforcement missions from Canada to Colombia.

“Mona Passage” won the Veterans Writing Award in 2020 and is Bardenwerper’s first novel.

The novel is the story of two neighbors in San Juan, Puerto Rico: Galán Betances, a Cuban emigrant, and Pat McAllister, a young Coast Guard officer. During long evenings spent together talking on their Calle Luna rooftop, a deep friendship develops based on shared traumas and a common desire to heal. When Galán learns that his sister, Gabriela, is going to be committed to a mental health facility in Cuba, he plans her escape to Puerto Rico. Pat, whose Coast Guard cutter patrols the Mona Passage for drug traffickers and migrants, warns Galán that such a journey will be treacherous — perhaps fatal.

Aware of the dangers but determined for Gabriela to live a full life, Galán hands over all the money he has to a Dominican smuggler based out of a San Juan nightclub, and Gabriela begins her terrifying journey. Knowing that his cutter may be all that separates Galán and Gabriela — and haunted by the human suffering he has witnessed at sea — Pat must decide: Will he remain true to his oath, as his older brother had done in Iraq? Or will he risk his own future — and perhaps his freedom — for his closest friend?

Early reviewers have noted the realism in the situations and portrayal of the characters, especially the Coast Guard characters.

Bardenwerper’s career in the Coast Guard came to an unexpected end when he was medically retired in 2018 for Type 1 diabetes. Thanks to the GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon Program, Buddy will be earning a joint degree from Harvard Law School and the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2022.

For more information visit banksquarebooks.com or call (860) 536-3795.