Next Year in Havana: A Novel by Chanel Cleeton

               It was the head of the circulation desk at the library who kept me from reading the second book of this series first.  Well, what is sort of a series.  I say this because there are two books about the same family, surrounding similar events.  The main characters of each book changes, though, and the books are definitely able to stand on their own.  Written this way, I would have a hard time calling this a series.  Still, I am glad I read Next Year in Havana first.

                Life is not easy for people living in 1958 Cuba.  Revolution is on the horizon, and the people are split over which side to support.  Even families are divided, as is the case with the wealthy Perez family.  The patriarch, Emilio, an owner of sugar plantations, supports President Batista.  His son, Alejandro, supports the revolutionaries.  Not the ones led by Fidel Castro, but that doesn’t matter to Alejandro’s father.  The fact of him supporting revolutionaries at all is enough to have him banished and disowned by the family.

                Knowing what happened to her brother is what makes it even more important for Alejandro’s sister Elisa to keep her love a secret.  She has fallen for a revolutionary.  One who follows Castro. 

                Elisa met Pablo Garcia at a party.  Despite the large age difference between them, and knowing she should stay away, Elisa falls in love with him.  Their relationship is not easy.  Not only must they keep their relationship a secret, but Pablo is also frequently away.  Yet, even with these obstacles, Elisa and Pablo somehow make their relationship work.

                Eventually, circumstances become more dangerous.  Pablo must be away for longer stretches of time while he fights with the revolutionaries, and the Perez family becomes a target because of their wealth and connections.  Emilio in particular.  In order to survive, Elisa and her family must leave everything they know behind and flee the country.  For Elisa, what she is leaving behind is someone she loves.

                The full story of Elisa’s life in Cuba is something her granddaughter, Marisol Ferrera, doesn’t know.  She knows her family had to leave Cuba, but she has never heard about Pablo.  He is someone she learns about only after Elisa’s death.

                Having gone to Cuba to spread her grandmother’s ashes, Marisol stays with Elisa’s best friend, Ana Rodriguez, and her family.  Ana never left Cuba, and she is the one who gives Marisol the letters Pablo wrote to Elisa.

                The letters are what make Marisol determined to find Pablo.  Ana’s grandson, Luis, agrees to help her, but he warns, despite the death of Castro, Cuba is not as free as the world would like to believe.  The government will not look well on an American asking questions about a revolutionary.  This is something Marisol finds out for herself when Luis gets in trouble for his internet writings, and they are both taken off the street for questioning.  Just as her grandmother had to do before her, Marisol must escape Cuba before the government declares she cannot.                    

                I have to admit, during most of this book I kept picturing Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and Diego Luna.  It’s set during the same time period, and Diego Luna stars in the film, so it kept running through my mind. 

That film and this book are definitely not one and the same.  Next Year in Havana goes far more in depth about what it was like to live through the revolution, along with the decades after it, and what Cuba is like today.  It was fascinating to read about the Cuban citizen perspective.  Those perspectives certainly weren’t ones I had ever read before.  Now that I have, it would be interesting to read more about people’s experiences during that time and now.  Learn what people’s lives were and are really like.  I’m sure I will find many things I never expected.

Love Left Behind/Artwork by Kate Dorsey