Next Year in Havana
by Chanel Cleeton
February 6, 2018
Women’s Fiction/Historical Fiction
Penguin/Berkley
OUR REVIEW:
Some reads give me an escape.
Some reads give me an education.
And every once in a while, I'm lucky enough to read something that gives me both an escape and an education.
Today, I finished Next Year in Havana and Chanel Cleeton immersed me in love story that was heartbreaking and sweet and so very educational. She made me fall in love with Elisa and Marisol and showed me the downfall of romanticizing places and revolutions. Not only did she have my heart aching and breaking and swooning over the stories of Elisa and Marisol and their complicated connections to Cuba, she plunged me into a time of revolution and fear and hope. She showed me how layered and complex the history and future of Cuba is and she did this as she had me falling for the loves of Elisa and Marisol.
Hours later, I'm still contemplating this novel. I keep thinking about all the Elisas and Anas and Marisols that have lived (or, are living) through such sweeping change in their countries. I think about the various decisions that have to be made and lived with--and how one difference in a decision can change the outcome of everything. I think about the power of love and friendship and hope and courage.
Next Year in Havana is a story of love and loyalty between a young woman and her family, her lover, her country, and her friend. It's one that will keep you thinking long after the story has ended.
Book 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.
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.
Book Links:
IndieBound: http://bit.ly/2zrt11m
Learn more about Next Year in Havana including
downloading the book club guide and more at: http://www.chanelcleeton.com/next-year-in-havana/
Add Beatriz
Perez’s story WHEN WE LEFT CUBA on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38193131-when-we-left-cuba
Praise for Next Year in
Havana:
Chanel Cleeton's Next
Year In Havana is a
flat-out stunner of a book, at once a dual-timeline mystery, a passionate
romance, and paean to the tragedy and beauty of war-torn Cuba. The story of
sugar heiress Elisa, watching Cuba fall into revolution as Castro rises,
is intertwined with the modern-day tale of Elisa's granddaughter Marisol as she
returns to Cuba after Castro's death. Both women fall for fire-brand
revolutionaries, but Cuba itself emerges as their true love-interest,
threatening to break both women's hearts as Elisa and Marisol each grapple in
their own way with what it is to be Cuban, what it is to be an exile, and how
to love and live in a homeland riven by revolution. Simply wonderful!
- Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The
Alice Network
Cleeton
has penned an atmospheric, politically insightful, and highly hopeful homage to
a lost world. Devour NEXT YEAR IN HAVANA and you, too, will smell the perfumed
groves, taste the ropa vieja, and feel the sun on your face. Just a wonderful
and educational book!
- Stephanie
Dray, New York Times bestselling author of America's
First Daughter
A
vivid, transporting novel. Next Year in Havana is about
journeys-- into exile, into history, and into questions of home and identity.
It's an engrossing read.
- David
Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The
19th Wife
An evocative, passionate story of family
loyalty and forbidden love that moves seamlessly between the past and present
of Cuba’s turbulent history— how one young woman’s sacrifice becomes the key to
her granddaughter’s future—how culture and spirit survive against all odds. Next
Year in Havana kept
me enthralled and savoring every word.
- Shelley Noble, New
York Times bestselling author of Whisper
Beach
In Next Year in Havana, Chanel
Cleeton's prose is as beautiful as Cuba itself, and the story she weaves--of exile
and loss, memory and myth, forbidden love and enduring friendship--is at once
sweeping and beautifully intimate. This is a moving, heartfelt, and gorgeously
realized story that will stay with you long after you turn the final page.
- Jennifer
Robson, USA Today bestselling author of Somewhere
in France
Author
Information:
Originally from
Florida, Chanel Cleeton grew up on stories of her family's exodus from Cuba
following the events of the Cuban Revolution. Her passion for politics and
history continued during her years spent studying in England where she earned a
bachelor's degree in International Relations from Richmond, The American
International University in London and a master's degree in Global Politics
from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Chanel also
received her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law.
She loves to travel and has lived in the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia.
Author
Links:
Post a Comment
Comments are bloggy food.
Feed our blog...