Next Year in Havana
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Average rating4
"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--and what it means to be Cuban"--
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4 primary booksThe Perez Family
The Perez Family is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2018 with contributions by Chanel Cleeton.
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Two words describe this book perfectly.
Lush and evocative.
Just beautiful.
So good! I loved how the stories of Marisol & Elisa mirrored each other. I loved that there were no clear choices and I loved getting a glimpse of Cuba - the way tourists see it, the way exiled Cubans see it, the way the revolutionaries see it, the way the Cubans see it. Obviously, I can't say how accurate any of those perspectives truly are, but it felt real.
(3.5, rounding up) Better than The Summer Wives, not as good as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, if we're placing this on a scale of historical fiction I've read this year. This feels like a book that should be made into a movie (or miniseries, especially considering there are more books coming) - that's not an insult at all, but this is so sweeping and decade-spanning and full of beautiful scenery and dresses and mansions that it feels like something for a prestige cable channel to air. As usual in things like this, I found the historical characters more interesting than the present-day ones, though as the stories started to converge near the end, I found myself getting more invested in Marisol. The history of Cuba was also interesting, and not something I knew very much about before reading this. As beach-style reads go, this is a solid choice and it will probably make you want to eat ropa vieja. Or have a rum cocktail.
