Havana Dreams: A Story of Cuba

An interesting book in which the author, who has family ties to Cuba, returns but rather than writing about her own family history, writes a biography, essentially of Naty Revuelta, confidant and lover of Fidel Castro (for a brief period on his behalf, much longer on hers!), but delves into the rest of her family - her mother Dona Natica, a Batista-era socialite who likes to compare herself to the queen, and Alina Fernandez Revuelta, daughter of Naty and Fidel, who escaped to the USA is disguise, and is actively critical of Castro's regime. The fourth generation is Alina's daughter Mumin.

The book is a relatively easy read, it focusses on a person or an event per chapter, it gives critical appraisal of the stories being told by the three women (who all tell their version of events, which under some scrutiny are, as one might expect, twisted in their favour), although there is little to make these three women particularly inspirational or perhaps even very unique. Perhaps that is a bit harsh, but there is a quote on the cover which promotes this book as A haunting Wild Swans-type interweaving of four female generations in revolution-riven Cuba - for me it doesn't live up to this hype.

A readable 3 stars, probably of particular interest to those with particular interest in Fidel Castro, and the Cuba of his era.