Next Year in Havana

 

I am enamored with the idea of visiting Havana, as I've said before, and a friend recommended this book to me. It was good, but definitely used a lot of clichés. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's one of those things that as soon as you read about two characters doing something in particular, you know what the outcome will be nearly every time. I did, however, learn quite a bit about Cuba, both before and after Castro.

The Perez sisters live in pre-Castro Cuba in 1958. Their father is a wealthy sugar baron and the lives are filled with parties and dancing and correct young men their parents vet for them. Third sister Elisa sneaks out to go to a party with her two older sisters and meets Pablo, a handsome and mysterious older man. The attraction between them is instantaneous, and even though she knows better she starts sneaking out to see him. 

In 2017, Elisa's granddaughter, Marisol, is visiting Cuba to spread her beloved grandmother's ashes. The Perez family fled to Florida after Castro, with the hope that someday they could return to their beloved country. Elisa asked her granddaughter to take her ashes home. Marisol is staying with Elisa's childhood best friend, Ana, and her handsome grandson, Luis, who acts as Marisol's tour guide. The attraction between them is instantaneous. Logically it could never work, but where does logic factor into love? 

It was a bit overwrought, but all in all not too bad. I finished it in one sitting, so it held my interest.