Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
This was our June book club pick and I finished it just in time for our meeting on Monday!
Here is a summary:
“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.”
I did enjoy this book, but I enjoyed the history aspects of it more than the love story aspects of it. (I love me a good romance, but some aspects of one of the stories was just a little TOO far fetched and out there for me to enjoy it!)
I know very little about Cuba’s political and revolutionary history and this book gave me quite a lesson.
It even encouraged me to go read more on my own to continue my education.
The author herself grew up in Florida listening to her own family speak of their own exodus from Cuba and she used those stories as an influence for this book.
I did enjoy hearing about the family histories and how deeply we are connected to our ancestors in ways we may not even realize.
This is a good summer read so put it in your pool bag!