The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba
Author: Chanel Cleeton
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2021
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593098870

"At the end of the nineteenth century, three revolutionary women fight for freedom in ... Chanel Cleeton's ... novel inspired by real-life events and the true story of a legendary Cuban woman--Evangelina Cisneros--who changed the course of history"--

When We Left Cuba

When We Left Cuba
Author: Chanel Cleeton
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0451490878

Instant New York Times bestseller! In 1960s Florida, a young Cuban exile will risk her life—and heart—to take back her country in this exhilarating historical novel from the author of The Last Train to Key West and Next Year in Havana, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick. Beautiful. Daring. Deadly. The Cuban Revolution took everything from sugar heiress Beatriz Perez—her family, her people, her country. Recruited by the CIA to infiltrate Fidel Castro's inner circle and pulled into the dangerous world of espionage, Beatriz is consumed by her quest for revenge and her desire to reclaim the life she lost. As the Cold War swells like a hurricane over the shores of the Florida Strait, Beatriz is caught between the clash of Cuban American politics and the perils of a forbidden affair with a powerful man driven by ambitions of his own. When the ever-changing tides of history threaten everything she has fought for, she must make a choice between her past and future—but the wrong move could cost Beatriz everything—not just the island she loves, but also the man who has stolen her heart...

Next Year in Havana

Next Year in Havana
Author: Chanel Cleeton
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2021-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593337204

A HELLO SUNSHINE x REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK "A beautiful novel that's full of forbidden passions, family secrets and a lot of courage and sacrifice."--Reese Witherspoon After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity--and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution... Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest--until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary... Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth. Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage.

Dreaming in Cuban

Dreaming in Cuban
Author: Cristina García
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2011-06-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307798003

“Impressive . . . [Cristina García’s] story is about three generations of Cuban women and their separate responses to the revolution. Her special feat is to tell it in a style as warm and gentle as the ‘sustaining aromas of vanilla and almond,’ as rhythmic as the music of Beny Moré.”—Time Cristina García’s acclaimed book is the haunting, bittersweet story of a family experiencing a country’s revolution and the revelations that follow. The lives of Celia del Pino and her husband, daughters, and grandchildren mirror the magical realism of Cuba itself, a landscape of beauty and poverty, idealism and corruption. Dreaming in Cuban is “a work that possesses both the intimacy of a Chekov story and the hallucinatory magic of a novel by Gabriel García Márquez” (The New York Times). In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the novel’s original publication, this edition features a new introduction by the author. Praise for Dreaming in Cuban “Remarkable . . . an intricate weaving of dramatic events with the supernatural and the cosmic . . . evocative and lush.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Captures the pain, the distance, the frustrations and the dreams of these family dramas with a vivid, poetic prose.”—The Washington Post “Brilliant . . . With tremendous skill, passion and humor, García just may have written the definitive story of Cuban exiles and some of those they left behind.”—The Denver Post

The Last Train to Key West

The Last Train to Key West
Author: Chanel Cleeton
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2020-06-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0451490886

Instant New York Times bestseller One of Bustle’s Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2020 “The perfect riveting summer read!”—BookBub In 1935 three women are forever changed when one of the most powerful hurricanes in history barrels toward the Florida Keys. For the tourists traveling on Henry Flagler’s legendary Overseas Railroad, Labor Day weekend is an opportunity to forget the economic depression gripping the nation. But one person’s paradise can be another’s prison, and Key West-native Helen Berner yearns to escape. After the Cuban Revolution of 1933 leaves Mirta Perez’s family in a precarious position, she agrees to an arranged marriage with a notorious American. Following her wedding in Havana, Mirta arrives in the Keys on her honeymoon. While she can’t deny the growing attraction to her new husband, his illicit business interests may threaten not only her relationship, but her life. Elizabeth Preston's trip to Key West is a chance to save her once-wealthy family from their troubles after the Wall Street crash. Her quest takes her to the camps occupied by veterans of the Great War and pairs her with an unlikely ally on a treacherous hunt of his own. Over the course of the holiday weekend, the women’s paths cross unexpectedly, and the danger swirling around them is matched only by the terrifying force of the deadly storm threatening the Keys.

Handmade in Cuba

Handmade in Cuba
Author: Ruth Behar
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2020-05-15
Genre: Art
ISBN: 168340288X

Handmade in Cuba is an in-depth examination of Ediciones Vigía, an artisanal press that published exquisite books crafted from simple supplies during some of Cuba’s most dire economic periods. Vividly illustrated, this volume shows how the publishing collective responded to the nation’s changing historical and political situation from the margins of society, representing Cuban culture across the boundaries of race, age, gender, and genre. In this volume, poets and scholars reflect on the unique artistic direction of Rolando Estévez, who oversaw the creation of over 500 handmade books and magazines between 1985 and 2014. They highlight the beautiful designs and unusual materials selected, including fabric, metals, wood, feathers, and discarded items. Through diverse perspectives, including an interview with Estévez himself, the essays showcase the unlimited inventive possibilities of books as objects, as sculptural pieces, and as installations. Even in the age of technology, Estévez generated enormous excitement and admiration for these hand-crafted books, and this volume offers the first inside view of this important alternative publishing space. Contributors: Ruth Behar | Juanamaría Cordones-Cook | Gwendolyn Díaz | Erin Finzer | William Luis | Nancy Morejón | Kim Nochi | Carina Pino Santos | Kristin Schwain | Elzbieta Sklodowska

A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow
Author: Laura Taylor Namey
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2022-09-29
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1398523941

Love isn't always part of the plan . . . A charming, heartwarming story following a Miami girl who unexpectedly finds love – and herself – in a small English town. Soon to be a movie starring Heartstopper's Kit Connor and Pretty Little Liars' Maia Reficco! For Lila Reyes, a summer in England hadn't been on the cards. Certainly not one stuck in the small town of Winchester with a lack of sun and zero Miami flavour. But when Lila meets Orion Maxwell in the local tea shop, her nightmare trip starts to look up. With a bright new future suddenly on the horizon, will Lila leave behind everything she's ever planned and follow her heart? A New York Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club YA Pick. PRAISE FOR A CUBAN GIRL'S GUIDE TO TEA AND TOMORROW: 'An absolute delight' Rachael Lippincott, author of Five Feet Apart 'An utterly charming read that feels like a treasured recipe that will heal and feed a broken heart.' Nina Moreno, author of Don’t Date Rosa Santos 'I could live inside Laura Taylor Namey’s lush, vibrant words forever.' Rachel Lynn Solomon, author of Today Tonight Tomorrow 'This book. THIS BOOK. Laura Taylor Namey has written the coziest love story I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.' Erin Hahn, author of You’d Be Mine and More Than Maybe

Queens of Havana

Queens of Havana
Author: Alicia Castro
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2007-12-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0802199100

“This evocative memoir is a joyous, rhythmic history” of the 11-sister dance band that broke musical and cultural barriers in 1930s Cuba and beyond (Publishers Weekly). In the 1930s, Havana was the place to be for tourists, ex-pats, celebrities, and excitement-seekers. Nights were filled with drinking, dancing, romance, and the roar of infectious music spilling from cafés into the streets. It was a time and place immortalized by Hemingway, and a macho mecca where only men took the stage. That is until Alicia Castro, a thirteen-year-old greengrocer’s daughter, picked up a saxophone and led her sisters into the limelight. With infectious melodies and saucy lyrics, the Sisters Castro—professionally known as Anacaona—became a dance-band of irresistible force. In her jubilant memoir, Queens of Havana, Alicia Castro tells of her incredible rise beyond her native city, to international stardom—swinging alongside legends from Dizzy Gillespie and Celia Cruz to Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. In an age that insisted women be seen and not heard, Alicia Castro and her unstoppable sisters grabbed the world by the ears and got it dancing to their beat. At eighty-seven-years old, Alicia’s stories are intoxicating and gloriously punctuated with more than 100 vintage photos, posters, and other memorabilia in a book that “reverberates with exotic echoes of a fabulous long-ago era” (Publishers Weekly).

Boxing for Cuba

Boxing for Cuba
Author: Guillermo Vicente Vidal
Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2017-09-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1555919383

In 1961, fearing the communist rule of Fidel Castro, Guillermo Vicente Vidal's family sent him to America through Operation Peter Pan. He arrived in Colorado and was sent to an orphanage with his brothers, and his family reunited four years later. Fifty years later, he served as Denver's mayor. This is his story of overcoming incredible odds.

Find Me in Havana

Find Me in Havana
Author: Serena Burdick
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2021-02-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1867213486

The dazzling true story of one of Hollywood’s most celebrated Hispanic actresses and her daughter’s search for answers. Cuba, 1936: When Estelita Rodriguez sings in a hazy Havana nightclub for the very first time, she is nine years old. From then on, that spotlight of adoration — from Havana to New York’s Copacabana and then Hollywood — becomes the one true accomplishment no one can take from her. Not the 1933 Cuban Revolution that drove her family into poverty. Not the revolving door of husbands and the fickle world of film. Not even the tragic devastation of Castro’s revolution that rained down on her loved ones. Thirty years later, her young adult daughter, Nina Rodriguez, is blindsided by her mother’s mysterious, untimely death. Seeking answers no one else wants to hear, the grieving Nina navigates the troubling, opulent memories of their life together and discovers how much Estelita sacrificed to live the American dream on her own terms. Based on true events and exclusive interviews with the real Nina Rodriguez, Find Me in Havana weaves two unforgettable voices into one extraordinary journey that explores the unbreakable bond between mother and child, and the ever-changing landscape of self-discovery.