A beautiful novel that's full of forbidden passions, family secrets and a lot of courage and sacrifice.
—Reese Witherspoon, (Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine book pick)
“A sweeping love story and tale of courage and familial and patriotic legacy that spans generations.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“This Cuban-set historical novel is just what you need to get that ~extra-summery~ feeling.”
—Bustle
“The Ultimate Beach Read”
—Real Simple
“Next Year in Havana reminds us that while love is complicated and occasionally heartbreaking, it's always worth the risk.”
—NPR
“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. Simply wonderful!”
—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network and The Huntress
“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.”
—Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling coauthor of America's First Daughter
“Don’t miss this smart, moving, and romantic story.”
—HelloGiggles.com
“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...Next Year in Havana kept me enthralled and savoring every word.”
—Shelley Noble, New York Times bestselling author of Whisper Beach
“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.”
—Jennifer Robson, USA Today bestselling author of Somewhere in France
“A poignant tale of aristocracy, subterfuge, tyranny, conflict, corruption and courage during the Cuban Revolution…Next Year In Havana is an extraordinary journey that connects the past and present and will enthrall readers until the very end.”
—RT Book Review (starred review)
“An enticing and wonderful read for lovers of historical fiction and soul-searching journeys.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“An undeniably personal and intimate look at Cuba then and now, wrapped around the gripping story of two women torn between love and country.”
—Renée Rosen, bestselling author of Park Avenue Summer
“Chanel Cleeton delivers an amazing and captivating read!”
—Alix Rickloff, author of On the Way to London
“With graceful prose, Cleeton evokes the former grandeur of 1950s Cuba, and contrasts it with modern day Miami in this sweeping family saga of loss and love.”
—Heather Webb, author of Last Christmas in Paris
“A compelling, un-put-downable page-turner told from two equally powerful female narratives...A must read.”
—Lia Riley, author of It Happened on Love Street
“Next Year in Havana is a ravishing jewel of romance, hope, family, and the history in Cuba.”
—Weina Dai Randel, author of The Moon in the Palace
“This gritty tale pulls back the curtain on revolutionary and modern Cuba, allowing us a glimpse of the courage, heartache, and sacrifices of those who left their country in exile, and also those who stayed behind.”
—Stephanie Marie Thornton, USA Today bestselling author of Clever Girl
“Next Year in Havana is a riveting, moving novel that explores the ever-relevant themes of love and sacrifice, family and duty, patriotism and resistance. Cleeton describes Havana so vividly that I felt I was there. I could not put this book down!”
—Alyssa Palombo, author of The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence
Next Year in Havana
Narrated by Kyla Garcia, Frankie Corzo
Chanel CleetonUnabridged — 11 hours, 16 minutes
Next Year in Havana
Narrated by Kyla Garcia, Frankie Corzo
Chanel CleetonUnabridged — 11 hours, 16 minutes
Overview
Inspired by events both personal and historical, this stirring saga follows Marisol as she fulfills a promise, learns about her family's past, and finds more than she was seeking.
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.
Editorial Reviews
06/01/2018
In 1959 Havana, as Fidel Castro claims absolute power, the sugar-rich Perez family's vast wealth marks them as targets, necessitating their escape to Miami, FL. So 19-year-old Elisa Perez leaves Cuba with her three sisters and their parents. Almost 60 years later, Marisol Ferrara arrives in Cuba bearing Elisa's ashes in fulfillment of her grandmother's final wish to return home. Elisa's childhood best friend Ana—who still lives next door to the former Perez mansion—warmly welcomes Marisol to Havana, presenting her with Elisa's box of long-buried secrets, prompting an inevitable collision of past and present. Frankie Maria Corzo imbues Elisa with steely determination, even as her family faces destruction, and even death. Kyla Garcia relies on her notably adjustable range to channel seamlessly Marisol's tenacious quest and vulnerable discoveries. Alternating between Elisa's truncated affair with a revolutionary comrade and Marisol's search to understand her family's forcibly abandoned heritage, romance novelist Cleeton (On Broken Wings) alchemizes her own family's Cuban exodus into historical fiction. VERDICT Despite occasional plot missteps—overwrought history lessons embedded as clumsy dialog, Marisol's implausibly fast-tracked romance—internationally savvy readers will appreciate exploring enigmatic Cuba, then and now, with a Cuban American insider as engaging guide. ["An enticing…read for lovers of historical fiction and soul-searching journeys": LJ 12/17 starred review of the Berkley hc.]—Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC
Narrators Kyla Garcia and Frankie Maria Corzo tag-team a story that spans generations, with the flavors of Cuban food and culture saturating the shared narrative. As Marisol Ferrera travels to Cuba in order to lay her grandmother, Elisa Perez’s, ashes to rest, she is introduced to secrets that ensure she won’t be able to leave until she uncovers truths her grandmother buried. Taking Elisa’s perspective, Garcia portrays a gently bred Cuban socialite who falls in love with a revolutionary in the shadow of Fidel Castro’s rise to power. From Marisol’s perspective, Corzo describes genuine appreciation for the country of her roots, and for a man she’s falling in love with too quickly to be safe for her continued stay. A.L. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
2017-11-14
"My grandmother loved a revolutionary," says Marisol Ferrera, returning to Cuba 60 years after her family fled the island only to find herself falling for another attractive rebel.Romance readers who enjoy their love stories leavened with a sizable measure of earnest political history will warm to Cleeton's (On Broken Wings, 2017, etc.) new novel, which offers parallel tales of entwined hearts challenged by oppressive regimes. Elisa Perez, one of the four "sugar queens"—the privileged daughters of a Cuban sugar baron—is the first star-crossed lover. Living in luxury in Havana in the late 1950s, Elisa and her sisters are shielded from the imminent revolution by their father's money and allegiance to the status quo, but then Elisa falls for Pablo, "Fidel [Castro]'s eyes and ears in the city." In the 21st century, Florida-based lifestyle journalist Marisol smuggles her grandmother's ashes back to Cuba, obeying Elisa's wishes to be reunited in death with the country from which she had been exiled. Once in Havana, Marisol discovers not only her family's roots and the letters revealing Elisa and Pablo's secret passion, but also her own emotional fulfillment in the form of Luis, the grandson of Elisa's best friend. Cleeton delivers the two women's descents into dangerous romance with persuasive intensity, but her descriptions of Pablo's and Luis' commitments to challenging the political establishment and her larger commentary on Cuba's long, troubled history make for a heavy contrast. "Why is the Cuban convertible peso so important?" asks Marisol, setting the reader up for another solid slab of social/historical/financial exposition. Somber and humor-free, the novel feels uncomfortably strung between its twin missions to entertain and to teach detailed, repetitive factual lessons.A love story and an homage to the history of the Cuban people, the latter significantly overshadowing the former.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169694642 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 02/06/2018 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 472,126 |
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Chapter One
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Excerpted from "Next Year in Havana"
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Copyright © 2018 Chanel Cleeton.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
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