🌆 🏖️🌊 Next Year in Havana 🌊 🏖️ 🌆 (2018) - Book Review

MY REVIEW

Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Berkley (February 6, 2018)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0399586687

ISBN-13: 978-0399586682

“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.”

After hearing SO much about Chanel Cleeton and this book (along with “When We Left Cuba”), I vacillated between buying it or getting it at the library.

Since the library only had the LARGE PRINT, I went for it. 

["Next Year In Havana" - large print/library binding edition]

“Next Year in Havana” is one of Chanel Cleeton’s books about the “Perez” family who is forced to flee Cuba during the revolution despite their prominence as a well to do family whose fortune is in sugar.

Torn between what they want and what is safe – caught in the middle are the daughters. Batista is feared, but the revolution that is to come is to be much worse.

This is the story of Elisa and her granddaughter Marisol.

With the death of Fidel Castro, relations between Cuba and the United Stated have thawed out – to a point. Marisol is now charged with scattering her grandmother’s ashes in Elisa’s beloved Cuba.

When Marisol arrives, she thinks she is “home”. But, she is soon conflicted – the Cuba she finds is nothing like what her grandmother romanticized despite the death of Fidel Castro and those thinking the country would return to normal after.

Marisol is staying with her grandmother’s friend, who has a gift for Marisol – the box Elisa buried in the backyard before leaving. As she begins looking for a place to scatter her grandmother’s ashes, she slowly unravels the truth behind her family and finds something that changes everything she’s been raised to believe. Marisol digs for the truth behind the letters her grandmother left her.

And, Marisol herself is torn between the romance of the Cuba her grandmother remembers, the Cuba her grandmother left, the Cuba that currently exists, and the freedom that is waiting at home in the United States.

She also, like her grandmother, finds herself falling in love with a revolutionary – Ana’s grandson Luis.

Luis wants to change Cuba – his idea is to change from within, no matter what it may cost him – even his life. But, reality is very cruel.

Marisol sees the various forms of Cuba around her – the beauty and dangers. She searches for answers about the man her grandmother loved, the man entwined with the Perez family. The man she knew nothing about.

Marisol realizes she didn’t know her grandmother as well as she thought either, and that life in Cuba is tenuous at best.

At times this is like a political essay about the history and life of Cuba, and at times a historical romance novel. This was an interesting read about lost loves, challenges, and perceptions.

It’s also a look into those who fled Cuba and those who were left behind; how they feel about each other; and the different definitions of what it is to be “Cuban”.

Cleeton weaves the tale so that the reader can feel the conflict of past vs. present – what has changed vs. what hasn’t changed. She also lays out the uncertainty of the future, hence the title “Next Year in Havana”, which is like a mantra for those with eternal hope of eventually returning to their homeland.

I picked this book up because of Cleeton’s newest release “When We Left Cuba”. The premise of that book was interesting, and as I like to read books in order, I thought I’d try this one. Thankfully my local library had a copy of it.

Despite this being an interesting story, for some reason I had difficulty in getting started. Once I did, it kept my interest long enough to finish it. It’s not one I would personally buy. However, the book is an interesting read if just once.

Release Date: February 6, 2018
3 ⭐⭐⭐/5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐