When We Left Cuba

Like her previous book about Cuba, Next Year in Havana, Chanel Cleeton's sequel deals with the overthrow of Batista, the rise to power of Fidel Castro and the situation for those who subsequently fled. At the center of the story, once again, is the Perez family; although, this time we follow Beatriz, the one who was considered the wildest of the 4 sisters, the one who chafed most at the life intended for her as a wife and mother. She was also the twin of Alejandro, who was murdered by the revolutionary forces when they drove out Batista, even though he was a student revolutionary himself. It was intended as an unambiguous message that the revolutionaries were coming for her family, whose wealth had been built on a generations-long sugar empire. All that Beatriz wants now is to get revenge on Fidel Castro, the man she believes murdered her brother.  So when her brother's best friend, Eduardo, comes to her with a proposition to meet with someone from the CIA, who also wants Castro gone, 22-year old Beatriz becomes a spy. First, she is sent to New York City when Castro comes to address the United Nations. He is a known womanizer, and Beatriz is, by general agreement, a beautiful woman. She attends a dinner, is introduced, and he appears interested, asking her to sit beside him on the podium. But eventually, she cannot follow through with any sort of liaison and returns home to Palm Beach.  She is then tasked with infiltrateing a local group of Communists/ Castro supporters.  Meanwhile, Beatriz has fallen in love with a Senator and would-be president from a politically powerful family who are closely aligned with the Kennedys. He is already engaged, but they are irresistibly attracted to one another and eventually begin an affair. Any plans to get Beatriz close enough to Castro to assassinate him are derailed when there is a fatally flawed attempt to oust Castro by exiled Cubans at the Bay of Pigs. Then Russia ship nuclear missiles to Cuba, precipitating a barricade by the U.S., which is eventually successful in deterring delivery. Finally Beatriz gets her chance. But she has also been betrayed by members of the small Communist cell she was monitoring, two brothers who are Castro's spies in the exiled Cuban community. Her cover blown, Beatriz is still considered useful and spends the rest of her life as an asset of the CIA. She and her lover have been apart all the intervening years; he married, had a family, and stayed in politics. When his wife dies, he comes back to find the woman he loved most in the world. Once again, this is a revealing look at a turbulent time in Cuba's history as well as in the relationship between Cuba and the U.S. The U.S. does not come off looking like the good guys in either book, but neither does Castro. One's sympathies are exclusively for the people exiled from the country they love, ever hopeful to return home.
Glowing reviews from The Washington Post and Publishers Weekly.

Next Year in Havana

As a descendant of Cuban exiles, with advanced degrees in international relations and global politics, author Chanel Cleeton is more than qualified to write this historical novel. The title is taken from the forever wish of Cuban exiles to return home. The story is told in alternating chapters during two time periods. In 1958 Havana, the rebels continue to fight and eventually defeat Batista, bringing Fidel Castro to power. Present day Cuba has been tentatively reconnected to the U.S. by President Obama's new policies. One narrator is  Elisa Perez, 3rd daughter of a wealthy sugar baron close to Batista's regime. She is 19 and has led a sheltered, high society life that has been little inconvenienced by--and is probably not even aware of--the rising power of a hungry and oppressed populace, even though her brother, the only Perez son, has been cast out by their father for his revolutionary views. One night, she and her 2 older sisters sneak out to a party where she meets a compelling older man, Pablo, who turns out to be an idealistic Castro supporter. Her family would be shamed by her relationship to him, but she is hopelessly in love and eventually becomes pregnant. Before she can inform him about the pregnancy, he disappears into the mountains to join the fight against Batista, and Elisa is later told that he has been killed. When the body of Elisa's brother, fraternal twin to Elisa's sister Beatriz, is dumped at the gates of the family mansion, they knows they must flee with only their lives and none of their possessions. They make a new home in Palm Beach and Elisa is quickly married to avoid the shame of an unwed pregnancy. Our second narrator is Marisol, the granddaughter of Elisa. Elisa had stepped in to raise Marisol and her siblings after their mother abandoned the family. Elisa filled Marisol's head and heart with romantic stories of the life she left behind in Cuba, and upon her death asks only that Marisol return her ashes to Havana. This provides the jumping off point for the present day story line as freelance lifestyle writer Marisol brings Elisa's ashes home to Cuba and also seeks to learn more about her family's history. When Ana, Elisa's best friend who remained in Cuba, gives Marisol a box of letter from Pablo that Elisa buried before she escaped, Marisol is even more determined to find out about the man her grandmother loved. But even though Castro is dead, the government will still not tolerate anyone stirring up trouble and Marisol creates problems as well by falling in love with Ana's grandson, who is hiding potentially deadly secrets of his own.  I really enjoyed reading this book because I had recently visited Havana for a couple of days and felt it filled in a lot of the backstory to what I saw. Although Kirkus took the author to task for trying to weave together politics with romance, I was fascinated to learn more about paladars and the significance of the dual Cuban currency. Nothing is black or white. Castro was viewed as a redeemer, but turned out to be a tyrant. The Communist government promised to take care of everyone, yet people starved under his regime. The U.S. presence in Cuba was malign as was their support of the corrupt and cruel Batista. Author Chanel Cleeton draws on her family's own exodus history to write this and follows up with a sequel, When We Left Cuba, focused on Elisa's sister, Beatriz, who was fraternal twin to the murdered Perez son. I will definitely read it! You can read an excerpt from Next Year at NPR.

Cuba Straits

This book was my introduction to author Randy Wayne White, although he has apparently written a LOT of previous installments in the "Doc Ford" series. This is quite a wild ride and, although it would have been nice to have more of the background of the two main characters, it was still an enjoyable read. A wild ride, in fact. Doc is apparently a former CIA operative, now tentatively retired and sort of pursuing his other occupation as marine biologist. The book is set in southern Florida and, not surprisingly, Cuba. With the increased interest in visiting Cuba that follows the recent thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations, I imagine many would be interested in the book for that reason alone. What else? Well his long time pal, apparently, is a somewhat psychically tuned in and also frequently stoned PhD named Tomlinson. There is a lot of talk about baseball and both Ford and Tomlinson play in some senior tournaments. The story involves a former dictator of a small central American country, some stolen love letters from Castro (apparently both Raul and Fidel) to their shared mistress, an escaped from mental asylum in Havana shortstop named Figueroa, a motorcycle fanatic FSB (Russian secret police) bad guy, and of course a serial killer. You see what I mean about a wild ride. And I must not forget the two castaway young girls who are rescued by Ford from the Straits and returned home, only to fall into the hands of the serial killer. And the mistress of the Castros themselves plays a role, whether or not we choose to believe in power from the grave.  I would definitely read more from this guy. Quirky characters, wonderful setting descriptions, and plenty of action...absolutely!