Captain Cofresí is a historical adventure novel set in early 1800s Puerto Rico and its neighboring islands. Candido Colón, an eighteen-year-old Spanish orphan, now a fugitive from the law, and his slightly younger companion Bebo Marín, a runaway slave, are caught in a sea storm and washed ashore on Mona Island, just west of Puerto Rico. The two intrepid castaways survive by hunting and fishing until they stumble upon a small cave where they discover a horde of weapons and foodstuffs. The gleeful pair celebrate their discovery by utilizing the horde. But they are soon caught there by the cache’s owners, Captain Roberto Cofresí (1791-1825), the notorious pirate from Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, and his plucky crew. Given the choice of staying on Mona—where they’ll eventually be caught and arrested by the Spanish—or joining the pirates, the two boys opt to join them and soon embark on an adventure that will change their lives.

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York, Victor Rodriguez is a retired laboratory technician now devoted to full-time writing. He is the author of Eldorado in East Harlem, a coming-of-age novel set in 1960, and Taíno Sunrise, a historical novel about the emancipation of the indigenous natives of the New World.