Next Year In Havana
“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.”
With its strong historical underpinnings, this novel packs a punch. Using the flashback technique, Chanel Cleeton describes life for a young debutante, Elisa, in the final days before and during the time the Fulgencio Batista government fell in Cuba to the persistent ideological battering of young, bearded rebels led by Fidel Castro.
Elisa’s story is juxtaposed with the life and experience of her present-day granddaughter, Marisol, visiting a newly 'open' Cuba ostensibly as a travel journalist but secretly to find a home for her beloved grandmother's ashes.
It's an unexpected love story, no less sweet for developing against the backdrop of the dangers and high drama of the Revolution.
Present-day Havana
Photo by Alexander Kunze
Image Source: Unsplash
My long-time fascination with Cuba was enhanced not sated by the clever way the different layers of the contentious history of this breathtakingly beautiful country were peeled away to reveal the different viewpoints. Those who stayed, those who fled, and those who still struggle to stay true to the dream of the Revolution despite its aborted promise. Haunting and achingly beautiful.
Highly Recommended