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Novels Written in English about Cuba/Cubans/Cuban Americans, 1851-2000:
an Annotated Bibliography
This bibliography includes all the fiction in English that could be identified
as published in the century-and-a-half covered. It excludes children's
and young adult fiction (of which there are many, from Anna Maria Barnes'
"Marti", 1898, through Anilu Bernardo's "Jumping off to Freedom", 1996).
The annotations attempt to give some notion of the plot or action of the
book. We would welcome any suggestions for additional titles to be
added to this list. Please submit them to:
Gene Bridwell,
Special Collections Librarian
Email: bridwell@sfu.ca
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1851 |
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Delaplain, Sophia [pseud]. A Thrilling and Exciting Account
of the Sufferings and Horrible Tortures inflicted on Mortimer Bowers and
Miss Sophia Delaplain by the Spanish Authorities... (Charleston, S.C.:
Published by E.E. Barclay; M.B. Crosson & Co., 1851) 31 p.
Sophia and Mortimer attempt to elope to California, but their ship,
the Henry Clay, goes instead to St. Jago [sic], on Cuba's Caribbean coast,
as a part of the force of General Narciso Lopez. (Included because, while
rather short, it was the earliest example found.) |
|
1885 |
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Badeau, Adam. Conspiracy: a Cuban Romance (New York :
A. Worthington, 1885) 324 p.
In 1878, while Undersecretary of State Bainbridge and others conspire
to make a treaty favourable to Spain in the trade between the United States
and Cuba, Don Juan de la Campa, known to his fellow creole partisans as
Carlos Aguero, returns to Cuba to avenge the death of his brother Alonzo,
one of the eight medical students executed by the Volunteers in Havana
in 1871. |
|
1887 |
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Mann, Mary. Juanita : a Romance of Real Life in Cuba
Fifty Years Ago (Boston : D Lothrop Company, 1887) 434 p.
Helen Wentworth goes to Cuba to visit her former student and friend,
now the Marchioness of Rodriguez, in her country estate, La Consolacion.
This visit allows the author to present a broad picture of plantation life
in the 1830s. She is especially concerned with the horrors of slavery. |
|
1898 |
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Bowen, Helen M. A Daughter of Cuba (Chicago and New York
: Rand, McNally & Company, 1898) 353 p.
Lithgow Hamilton leaves New York City for Cuba to secure contracts
with coffee planters and, incidentally, to search for the heir to an English
fortune. He accompanies the young heir to England, then back to Cuba where
they join the forces against Spain. The daughter of Cuba of the title is
Raquel Palgrave, daughter of a sugar plantation owner, who becomes a heroine
of the revolution and the love of Lithgow Hamilton. |
|
Carrillo, Mario. In the Saddle with Gomez (New
York : F. Tennyson Neely, Publisher, 1898) 201 p.
First person narrative of various battles in 1895 and 1896 engaged
in by different Cuban generals, notably Antonio Maceo, Maximo Gomez, and
Alfredo Zayas. Realistic treatment of battles. |
|
1899 |
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Stoddard, William O. The Despatch Boat of the Whistle
(Boston: Lothrop Publishing Company, 1899) 319p.
Juan Rivas returns to Cuba from the United States as a reporter for
the Whistle (newspaper) and a soldier for Cuba in the battle for Santiago. |
|
1900 |
|
Fox, John Jr. Crittenden: a Kentucky Story of Love and
War (New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900) 256 p.
Henry Clay Crittenden, of the famous Kentucky family, and his younger
brother Basil join the American forces and participate in the charge on
San Juan Hill. |
|
Stanton, Rev. Peyton L. Love and War in Cuba. Including
Many Thrilling Scenes of the Last Years of Spanish Rule (Atlanta : The
Foote & Davies Company, 1900) 312 p.
The Martinez and Olivera families (along with the rest of Cuba) undergo
hardships at the hands of the Spaniards, but all is set right after the
Americans and protestants enter in 1898. |
|
1913 |
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Perry, Lawrence. Holton of the Navy; a Story of the Freeing
of Cuba (Chicago : A.C. McClurg & Co., 1913) 390 p.
Seconded from the Navy, Lieutenant Thomas Holton serves as a liaison
between the American command and General Calixto Garcia outside Santiago.
Holton effectively becomes a spy for the Americans, participates in the
charge on San Juan Hill, alerts the fleet that the Spanish ships will leave
the bay, and assures the Cubans that the Americans will not take over Cuba
after the conflict. |
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1922 |
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Hergesheimer, Joseph. The Bright Shawl (New York : Alfred
A. Knopf, 1922) 220 p.
Charles Abbott reminisces about his youthful travel to Havana in the
1880s, when he befriended Andres Escobar and other Cuban youths opposed
to Spanish rule. The bright shawl of the title adorns a beautiful young
Spanish dancer, La Clavel, and represents their youthful dreams. |
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1924 |
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Gerould, Gordon Hall. Filibuster (New York : Daniel Appleton
& Company, 1924) 275 p.
In 1897 Paul Enderby stows away aboard the Trelawney, a merchant ship
running guns and a few men to the Insurrectos in Cuba. Ashore on the island
he sees some of the action between the Cubans and Spanish, but eventually
returns safely to Key West. |
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1928 |
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Cozzens, James Gould. Cockpit (New York : Grosset &
Dunlap, 1928) 302 p.
Ruth Micks, daughter of chief field engineer Lancy Micks, unravels
the string of mystery surrounding murder and mayhem on a Cuban sugar plantation. |
|
Harding, Alfred. Tropical Fruit (New York : Duffield
& Company,1928) 365 p.
WWI veteran Morse Harrison goes to work for the Caribbean Oil Company
on Cuba's southern coast vowing to only stay until something better comes
along, but rum, romance, and would-be revolution change his plans. |
|
1929 |
|
Cozzens, James Gould. The Son of Perdition (New York
: William Morrow & Company, 1929) 304 p.
A complex story of theft, incest, and murder in the town of Dosfuegos,
sea terminal on the Caribbean for the United Sugar Company. Mr. Stellow,
administrator for the company, attempts to solve some of the local Cubans'
problems with his own brand of justice. |
|
1930 |
|
Roberts, Cecil. Havana Bound (New York : D. Appleton
& Company, 1930) 411 p.
Gerald Brodie sails from France to Cuba on the S.S. Orcana to visit
his wealthy uncle, Prince Cravelli, in Havana. A man overboard during the
voyage, a beautiful and exotic dancer, various intrigues and romances,
all move this novel along. |
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1933 |
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Allen, Hervey. Anthony Adverse (New York : Farrar and
Rinehart, Inc., 1933) 1224 p.
This blockbuster romance and adventure begins before the birth of the
protaganist in the Alps maritime in 1775. Book V takes place in the Havana
of the late 18th century. |
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Reitzel, William. Man Wants but Little, by Wilson Wright
[pseud.] (New York : Albert & Charles Boni, Inc., 1933) 335 p.
In Oriente at the time of World War I, Spanish born Jose Pedriga desires
little except a small farm and a peaceful life, but is put through some
hardships because of his evil father-in-law. |
|
1936 |
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Keiser, Melanie Earle. God Returns to the Vuelta Abajo
(New York : William R. Scott, 1936) 150 p.
Bernardo and his family suffer through a year of hardship (1932?) when
a hurricane destroys their home and a drought their tobacco and vegetable
crops. |
|
1937 |
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Hemingway, Ernest. To Have and Have Not (New York : Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1937) 262 p.
Rum runner, charter fisherman, and refugee smuggler Harry Morgan travels
from Havana to Key West making a buck as the opportunity arises. |
|
1940 |
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Kantor, MacKinlay. Cuba Libre (New York : Coward-McCann,
Inc., 1940) 136 p.
When he is 14, Cristo Lorenzo Rodriguez, "Cuba Libre," is smuggled
into the United States by returning American soldiers in 1899. He lives
and works in small town Iowa until WWI when he joins the American forces.
After the war he returns to his native Cuba where he is found by old friends
from Iowa. |
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Rice, Elinor. Action in Havana (New York : Duell, Sloan
and Pearce, 1940) 313 p.
Sugar magnate Howard D. Avery takes his wife and two sisters to Havana.
While he attends to business in the interior, the women have various liaisons
in the capital. |
|
1941 |
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Steen, Marguerite. The Sun is my Undoing (New York :
The Viking Press, 1941) 1176 p.
Matthew Flood travels from his Bristol home to the Gold Coast of Africa
in the late 18th century to make his fortune as a slaver. From there he
moves to Havana where his African wife dies in childbirth. Leaving his
newborn daughter there in a convent school, he is captured by Barbary pirates
and himself enslaved. Eventually he returns to Bristol and meets his granddaughter,
Maria Pia, who has come from Cuba in search of her English heritage. |
|
1944 |
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Casemore, Robert F. Splendid Morning (Sydney : Angus
and Robertson, 1944) 276p.
20 year old Sharon Douglass leaves Texas in 1894 after the death of
her father to go live with her uncle Clayton Arms on his sugar plantation
near Santiago. After witnessing first hand the oppression by the Spanish
she becomes a spy for the Cubans during the revolution. |
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1948 |
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Bottume, Carl Huntington. Hills around Havana (New York
: Appleton Century Crofts, Inc, 1948) 297 p.
Young WWII veteran Sam Hughes goes to Cuba to see his father, the painter
Philip Hughes, and becomes a member of an international party scene. However,
a great hurricane crashes the party and helps bring the various romances
to their happy endings. |
|
1949 |
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Roberts, Walter Adolphe. The Single Star (Indianapolis
: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1949) 378 p.
Jamaican Stephen Lloyd joins Miguel and Ines (La Estrella) Carmano
on a secret journey to Cuba in a small sloop. He becomes a captain in the
Cuban army and takes part in the 1890s rebellion against Spain as a leader
of a squad of sharpshooters. |
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1950 |
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Castor, Henry. Year of the Spaniard (New York : Doubleday,
1950) 274 p.
Philadelphians Warren Spangler and Caleb Hawkins go to Cuba as reporter
and soldier, respectively. Warren befriends Stephen Crane and sends dispatches
back to the Ledger. Caleb fights in several engagements and is wounded.
Both return to the United States and new domesticity. |
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Street, James Havell. Mingo Dabney (New York : The Dial
Press, 1950) 383 p.
Mississippian Mingo Dabney follows the beautiful Rafaiel Galban to
Cuba, where she is known as La Entorcha, symbol of the Cuban revolution.
Dabney becomes a soldier and leader of the impedimenta for the army of
Antonio Maceo. |
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1952 |
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Griffith, Maxwell. Port of Call (Philadelphia and New
York : J.B. Lippincott Company, 1952 [c1951]) 331 p.
The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Betio Bay is taken out of mothballs and
goes on a shakedown cruise to the Caribbean. Romance, rum and a riot ashore
in Cuba unite the once disorganised crew into an effective combat group. |
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Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea (New York
: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952) 127 p.
Hemingway's classic tale of an old fisherman's struggle with the sea,
a giant marlin, and the sharks. |
|
1957 |
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Wolfe, Bernard. In Deep (New York : Alfred A. Knopf,
1957) 308p.
Robert Garmes goes to Cuba to avenge the murder of his friend and gets
"in deep" in the sea and among criminals. |
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Yerby, Frank Garvin. Fairoaks (New York : Dial Press,
1957) 405 p.
In 1835 young Mississippian Guy Falks, unable to gain his rightful
estate, goes to Cuba and becomes involved in the slave trade. After numerous
passages to and from Africa, he returns to his native land with a fortune. |
|
1958 |
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Dos Passos, John Rodrigo. The Great Days (New York :
Sagamore Press, 1958) 312 p.
Aging journalist Roland Lancaster is joined in Havana by his young
American girl friend Elsa. Their misadventures are punctuated by his reminiscences
of his earlier life, especially his years as a correspondent during WWII. |
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Greene, Graham. Our Man in Havana (London : William Heinemann
Ltd., 1958) 273 p.
Wormwold the vacuum cleaner salesman becomes a paid spy for British
intellegence in pre-revolutionary Havana. |
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Silver, Lily Jay. Shadow on the Sun (New York : Duell,
Sloan and Pearce, 1958) 247 p.
In 1939 Nicole Blancoeur Levitte and her daughter Monique jump from
the ship Flandre in Havana harbour and are rescued by a Cuban fisherman
with whom they live until the vain and beautiful Nicole finds new employment
and a wealthy lover, Manuel Salazar. |
|
1959 |
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Hawkins, Ward. Kings Will Be Tyrants (New York : McGraw-Hill
Book Company, Inc., 1959) 226 p.
Former U.S. marine O'Brien (Bernardo Manuel Patrick O'Brien) of Cuban
and American parentage, fights on the side of the rebels for Castro. |
|
1960 |
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Tully, Andrew. A Race of Rebels (New York : Simon and
Schuster, 1960) 250 p.
Mike Kane, a reporter for the Taft chain, is witness to the triumph
of the revolution and Castro's entrance into Havana, as well as to the
trials and executions of some Batistianos. |
|
1961 |
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Doliner, Roy. The Orange Air (New York : Scribner, 1961)
242 p.
Former major league pitcher Hank Easter goes to Havana to produce a
TV commercial promoting tourism in post revolutionary Cuba. Nefarious characters
try to draw him into a plot to assassinate El Comandante. |
|
Herr, Paul. Journey not to End (New York : Bernard Geis
Associates, 1961) 250 p.
The narrator, a survivor of the Belsen concentration camp, eventually
becomes involved in smuggling arms and ammunition to the rebels against
Batista. |
|
1962 |
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Miller, Warren. Flush Times (London : Secker & Warburg,
1962) 370 p.
During the last days of the Batista regime Jonathan Weller follows
his estranged wife to Havana where she has gone for an abortion. He is
caught up in a new romance while the rebels take over. |
|
1963 |
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Yglesias, Jose. A Wake in Ybor City (New York : Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1963) 284 p.
A Cuban American family in suburban Tampa struggles through reunion,
confusion and death at the time of the Cuban revolution. |
|
1964 |
|
Breit, Harvey. A Narrow Action (Cleveland and New York
: The World Publishing Company, 1964) 286 p.
Revolutionary leader Felipe (read Fidel) compromises his revolution
by becoming allied with the Russians. Many of his former compadres are
executed or exiled. Includes psychoanalysis of Felipe. |
|
Marlowe, Hugh (pseud. of Patterson, Harry). Passage by
Night (New York : Abelard-Schuman Ltd., 1964) 159 p.
Fishing charter skipper and diver Harry Manning gets caught up in a
Cuban plot to assassinate western diplomats in the Caribbean south of Cuba. |
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1966 |
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Gamez, Tana de. The Yoke and the Star (Indianapolis :
Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1966) 309 p.
Consolidated News Service reporter John Hannan becomes involved in
the revolution from the time of the attack on the Moncada barracks (1953)
to the landing of the revolutionaries in Oriente (1956). |
|
Lewis, Norman. Small War Made to Order (London : Collins,
1966) 223 p.
Philip Berry, Deputy Director of Secret Operations for the C.I.A.,
has a detailed plan, Operation M, for the invasion of Cuba and the installation
of a government friendly to the U.S. However, he needs first hand knowledge
of the invasion beach and hires Englishman Charles Fane to reconnoiter. |
|
1967 |
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Uris, Leon. Topaz (New York : McGraw-Hill Book Company,
1967) 341 p.
Russian defector Boris Kutnekov informs the West of Topaz - the sending
to and installation of Russian missiles in Cuba that leads to the crisis
in October, 1962. |
|
1970 |
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Hemingway, Ernest. Islands in the Stream (New York :
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970) 466 p.
Hemingway's posthumously published novel about painter Thomas Hudson
who, like Hemingway, fishes the gulf stream, then hunts German submarines
off the Atlantic coast of Cuba. |
|
1972 |
|
Pflaum, Melanie. The Maine Remembered (Christchurch,
New Zealand : Pegasus Press, 1972) 150 p.
Concha Cortez returns to Oriente and her family estate (sugar and cattle)
in early 1960. She marries Major Luis Betancourt, a high official in the
Castro government. He flees to the Sierras as an anti-Castro revolutionary,
while she joins his forces by going into disguise in Havana until the invasion
of the Bay of Pigs. |
|
1976 |
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Shaw, Evelyn Hahn. Desiderata (Freeman, South Dakota
: Pine Hill Press, 1976) 249 p.
As he slowly recovers in hospital in Harbor Cay, Bahama Islands, U.S.
Naval Reserve Captain Jose Velasquez Ortega relives parts of his life,
including his participation in the Bay of Pigs invasion. |
|
1977 |
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King, Harold. The Taskmaster (New York : Coward, McCann
& Geoghegan, Inc., 1977) 251 p.
C.I.A. agent Alec Gunther is sent to track down and eliminate his former
comrade in arms, Cuban born Oliva Raul Vargas, who is accused of methodically
eliminating their former mates from the Bay of Pigs invasion. |
|
Morgan, Henry. Toro (New York : Belmont Tower Books,
1977) 236 p.
Henry Morgan goes to Cuba during WWII and joins Ernest Hemingway in
drinking and hunting for German submarines. |
|
1981 |
|
Douglas, Manuel. The Cubans (New York : Seaview Books,
1981) 590 p.
Sixteen year old Pedro Loyola leaves his small Asturian village in
1890 and ships out to Havana. He works for a while, then becomes a soldier
for Spain against the rebels. He survives the war and goes into the sugar
business which rewards him with riches by the 1930s. |
|
Krich, John. A Totally Free Man: an Unauthorized biography
of Fidel Castro (Berkeley, California : Creative Arts Books, 1981) 190
p.
Fidel Castro records his reminiscences from childhood to the present,
much in the convoluted way of his speeches. |
|
1982 |
|
Lewis, Norman. Cuban Passage (London : Collins, 1982)
250 p.
Young Englishman David Fraser kills Juan Stilson, his mother's lover.
Arrested and put in prison in the final days of the Batista regime, he
is ultimately saved by the Castro rebels. |
|
1983 |
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Cantor, Jay. The Death of Che Guevara (New York : Alfred
A. Knopf, 1983) 578 p.
Biographical novel follows Che Guevara from his Argentinian childhood
to his death in Bolivia. Based in part on Guevara's diaries. |
|
Hijuelos, Oscar. Our House in the Last World (New York
: Persea Books, 1983) 235p.
In 1939 Holguin, Alejo Santinio meets and marries Mercedes Sorrea.
They move to New York in the summer of 1943 and find a home in Spanish
Harlem. Alejo, a man of great appetites, works and parties through life
while Mercedes becomes isolated. Their sons, Horacio and Hector, take different
paths. |
|
Moss, Robert, and Armand de Borchgrave. Monimbo (New
York : Simon and Schuster, 1983) 384 p.
Reporter Robert Hackney tracks a drug smuggling conspiracy to Havana
where Fidel Castro has put in operation the Monimbo Plan, an attempt to
bring down the United States in an epidemic of riots and civil unrest. |
|
1985 |
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Buckley, William F., Jr. See You Later Alligator (New
York : Doubleday & Company, 1985) 351 p.
President Kennedy sends C.I.A. operative Blackford Oakes to Cuba to
investigate an agreement on the eve of the Cuban missile crisis. |
|
Weaver, Melvin E. Rising Tide (Boynton Beach, Florida : Charmel
Press, 1985) 241 p.
17 year old Rod Sterling takes a holiday in Cuba in 1948. There he
meets and falls in love with a young prostitute, Conchita. A series of
unlikely events makes him wealthy, but he returns to Florida to continue
his education. Returning to Cuba, he establishes dairy farms there and
in Nassau, while continuing his affair with Conchita and becoming an ally
of the Castro revolution. |
|
1986 |
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Quinnell, A.J. Siege of Silence (New York : E.P. Dutton,
1986) 286 p.
The mythical country of San Carlo is taken over by revolutionaries
who make hostages of the American ambassador and the rest of the Americans
in their compound. Fidel Castro sends his top interrogator, Jorge Calderon,
to learn the name of the C.I.A. connected conspirators who, under the name
of Operation Cobra, would assassinate him. |
|
1987 |
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Buckley, William F., Jr. Mongoose R.I.P. (New York :
Random House, 1987) 322 p.
Another Blackford Oakes adventure. This time the C.I.A. agent is involved
in a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. |
|
Yglesias, Jose. Home Again (New York : Arbor House, 1987)
180 p.
After a life of writing, travel and raising his own family, "Pinpin"
Granados returns to Ybor City (Tampa) for a quiet retirement, but instead
is surrounded by the mayhem of his large Cuban-American family led by charging
cousin Tom-tom. |
|
1988 |
|
Jones, Douglas C. Remember Santiago (New York : Henry
Holt and Company, 1988) 354 p.
Eben Pay and his Osage pal Joe Mountain (with supporting cast) make
their way to Cuba. They endure the mosquitos, swamp, and rains and are
involved in the battle of San Juan Hill. |
|
Fernandez, Roberto G. Raining Backwards (Houston, Texas
: Arte Publico Press, 1988) 208 p.
Family saga of the Rodriguez clan and friends, Cubans in Miami's Little
Havana, told from many points of view. |
|
1989 |
|
Alexander, Karl. Papa and Fidel (New York : Tom Doherty
Associates, Inc., 1989) 310 p.
A novel of "...what should have happened if Ernest Hemingway and Fidel
Casto had become friends." |
|
Hijuelos, Oscar. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (New
York : Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1989) 407 p.
Cesar and Nestor Castillo leave Havana in the 1940's for New York where
Cesar leads a group, the Mambo Kings. They become locally famous, even
appear with Desi Arnaz on the "I Love Lucy" show. Nestor has a tragic ending
while Cesar goes on to become dissolute. Pulitzer Prize winner. |
|
Munoz, Elias Miguel. Crazy Love (Houston, Texas : Arte
Publico Press, 1989) 167 p.
Part epistolary, part diary, part interview, part poetry, among other
parts, this novel recounts the experiences of Julian and his sister, Geneia,
and their family in Cuba and southern California. |
|
Sanchez, Thomas. Mile Zero (New York : Alfred A. Knopf,
1989) 349 p.
Justo Tamarindo, a second generation Key West Cuban American and police
detective, pursues a murderer through a curious combination of Santeria
and voodoo on the island. |
|
Yglesias, Jose. Tristan and the Hispanics (New York :
Simon and Schuster, 1989) 265 p.
A sequel to Home Again. Tristan, grandson of the late Pinpin, goes
to Ybor City to settle Granados' estate, only to be surrounded by the same
loving, rowdy Cuban American family, once again spearheaded by Tom-tom,
that Pinpin found there earlier. |
|
1990 |
|
Adams, Ian. Becoming Tania (Toronto : McClelland &
Stewart Inc., 1990) 298 p.
Ten years after the death of Che Guevara (1967), Argentinian Nicolas
Quintana experiences the events of Guevara's last days in Bolivia. |
|
Armstrong, Campbell. Mambo (New York : Harper and Row,
1990) 438 p.
A thriller that has Scotland Yard's Frank Pagan chasing his escaped
terrorist, Gunther Ruhr, from Scotland to Cuba, where Ruhr tries to launch
a deadly missile. |
|
Bell, Christine. The Perez Family (New York : W.W. Norton
& Company, 1990) 256 p.
Released from prison where he has been kept for 20 years, Juan Raul
Perez joins the other Marielitos hoping to find his estranged wife in Miami.
Instead he is surrounded by Dottie, Paz Luz and the rest of a new family,
all trying to survive. |
|
Suarez, Virgil. Latin Jazz (New York : Simon and Schuster,
1990) 290 p.
Former revolutionary Hugo Carranza escapes from a Cuban work camp/prison,
makes his way to Havana and finds his lover, Lucinda. They then become
Marielitos and eventually arrive in Florida, where they are met by Hugo's
father, who has travelled from Los Angeles to meet them. |
|
1991 |
|
Abella, Alex. The Killing of the Saints (New York : Crown
Publishers, Inc., 1991) 308 p.
Two Marielitos under the influence of booze, weed, and the wrathful
orisha Oggun, run amok while robbing a jewelry store in Los Angeles. Charlie
Morrell, a Cuban born lawyer, defends them in court. |
|
Grace, Alexander M. Crisis : a Novel (Novato, California
: Presidio Press, 1991) 268 p.
January 1990. Fidel Castro's loyal troops attack the U.S. naval base
at Guantanamo and the remaining Soviet brigade near Havana. Castro holds
both the remaining Russians and Americans hostage while demanding that
the wealthy nations pay off the debts of the third world countries. |
|
Monette, Paul. Havana (New York : Ivy Books, 1991) 198
p.
Professional gambler Jack Weil goes to Havana to find the big poker
game. He finds cards but also finds love in the storm of the Castro
revolution. |
|
Munoz, Elias Miguel. The Greatest Performance (Houston,
Texas : Arte Publico Press, 1991) 151 p.
Rosita and Pepito Rodriguez leave Guantanamo in the early days of the
revolution and go to live with relatives in Spain. Eventually they are
reunited with their parents in Southern California, where Rosita's friend
Mario has also settled. Both Rosa and Mario have their lives complicated
by their sexual preferences. |
|
Sayles, John. Los Gusanos (New York : Harper Collins,
1991) 473 p.
Marta de la Pena vows to avenge the death of her brother Ambrosio,
who died in the Bay of Pigs invasion. Attempting to complete her mission,
she becomes involved in a strange group consisting of her uncle, an idealist,
a delusional teenager, and a killer. |
|
VALIGN=TOP>Suarez, Virgil. The Cutter (New York : Available Press, 1991) 212
p.
In 1969 Julian Campos tries to leave Cuba legally but instead is sent
to cut sugar cane. He finally departs, at night and with bullets flying
around him, and gets to Miami, hoping to be reunited with his family. |
|
Torres, Omar. Fallen Angels Sing (Houston, Texas : Arte
Publico Press, 1991) 139 p.
In the late 70s Miguel Saavedera wanders in body and mind from Miami
to New York to Havana trying to avoid commitment to either side of the
argument about the Cuban revolution. |
|
1992 |
|
Bowen, Peter. Imperial Kelly (New York : Crown Publishers,
Inc., 1992) 210 p.
Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly joins Teddy Roosevelt's Roughriders for
the trip to Cuba in 1898, then continues his adventures in the South Africa
of the Boer War before finally travelling to the Philippines. |
|
Buchanan, Edna. Contents under Pressure (New York : Hyperion,
1992) 277 p.
Cuban American investigative reporter Britt Montero searches for the
party responsible in the death of a local (Miami) black sports hero. |
|
Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban (New York : Alfred
A. Knopf, 1992) 245 p.
Three generations of Del Pino women fill this National Book Award nominee.
Celia, the matriarch, watches for gusanos from her beachside home in Cuba;
her daughter Felicia indulges in Santeria. Another daughter, Lourdes, runs
a bakery in Brooklyn, where punk granddaughter Pilar strives to be an artist. |
|
Lynch, David. Yellow, a Novel ( New York : Walker &
Co., 1992) 211 p.
A dying Ambrose Bierce recounts the tale told by Frederic Remington
about the war between the Cubans and Spanish as well as the battle between
newspaper barons Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. |
|
Quayle, Marilyn T., and Nancy T. Northcott. Embrace the
Serpent (New York : Crown Publishers, Inc., 1992) 307 p.
Following the death of Fidel Castro, the Russians attempt to put their
candidate in as President of Cuba. |
|
1993 |
|
Barreiro, Jose. The Indian Chronicles (Houston, Texas
: Arte Publico Press, 1993) 303 p.
The chronicles are a journal kept by Diego Colon, a Taino who served
as an interpreter for Columbus and was adopted by the admiral. Diego wrote
of the early contact an conflict between the indigenous people of the islands
in the Caribbean and the Spaniards. |
|
Engle, Margarita. Singing to Cuba (Houston, Texas : Arte
Publico Press, 1993) 163 p.
An American journalist returns to Cuba for the first time since her
childhood in search of her wild youthful spirit and living relatives. |
|
Fraxedas, J. Joaquin. The Lonely Crossing of Juan Cabrera
(New York : St. Martin's Press, 1993) 174 p.
Juan Cabrera and two friends, Andres and Raul, set out from Guanabo,
east of Havana, on a raft made of three innertubes, hoping to catch the
gulf stream to Florida. |
|
Hijuelos, Oscar. The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez
O'Brien (New York : Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1993) 484 p.
Irish immigrant Nelson O'Brien meets Mariela Montez in Santiago in
1898. During their move to a small town in Pennsylvania, their first
daughter, Marguerita, is born while they are still at sea. She is followed
over the years by 13 more daughters and finally a son. Emilio eventually
goes on to minor stardom in Hollywood. |
|
Holt, Robert Lawrence. Havana heat (Vista, California
: Pacific Rim Press, 1993) 313 p.
C.I.A. agent Lou Fricke, stationed in Havana, is in the crowd at the
Plaza de la Revolucion when a riot erupts during a Castro speech. Meanwhile,
U.S. Marine pilots from Guantanamo fly their AV-8B Harriers against Cuban
MIGs to aid General Diaz in Santa Clara in a revolt against the Castro
regime. |
|
1994 |
|
Buchanan, Edna. Miami, It's Murder (New York : Hyperion,
1994) 244 p.
In one of the plots of this thriller, Cuban American investigative
reporter Britt Montero is pursued by a Marielito who is a serial rapist. |
|
Medina, Pablo. The Marks of Birth (New York : Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 1994) 276 p.
The family of Anton Garcia-Turner flees its home island during a turbulent
political upheaval, emigrating first to Key West then on to New York. |
|
Pearson, Ryne Douglas. October's Ghost (New York : William
Morrow, 1994) 417 p.
While a C.I.A. backed force of Cuban Americans attacks Cuba, Fidel
Castro attempts to launch a nuclear weapon he had stolen from the Russians,
ironically targeted for Moscow. |
|
1995 |
|
Buchanan, Edna. Suitable for Framing (New York : Hyperion, 1995)
243 p.
Cuban American investigative reporter Britt Montero is found suitable
for framing by a Miami cop in the death of her (Britt's) colleague and
rival. |
|
Engle, Margarita. Skywriting (New York : Bantam Books,
1995) 288 p.
Carmen Peregrin goes to Cuba to find her half-brother. After she returns
to California with a hereditary package he has given her, she learns that
he left the island on a raft. |
|
Fernandez, Roberto G. Holy Radishes! (Houston, Texas
: Arte Publico Press, 1995) 298 p.
Nelson and Nellie, both of wealthy backgrounds, leave the island with
their children after Faithful Chester's successful revolution. In Florida,
Nelson seeks a former love while Nellie grades radishes for a living. |
|
Grainger, Bill. The New York "Yanquis" (New York : Arcade
Publishing, 1995) 261 p.
New York Yankees owner George Bremenhaver, fed up with his expensive
and spoiled ball players, sends relief pitcher Ryan Shawn to make a deal
with Fidel Castro for a team of Cuban players. Shawn is successful - and
so is the team. |
|
Hijuelos, Oscar. Mr. Ives' Christmas (New York : Harper
Collins Publishers, 1995) 248 p.
Successful New York illustrator Edward "Eduardo" Ives was a foundling,
possibly of Latin extraction. He feels close to Latinos and befriends Cuban
American Luis Ramirez, a barman and later restauranteur, and his Cuban
wife Carmen. Their families become connected. |
|
Hood, Mary. Familiar Heat (New York : Alfred A. Knopf,
1995) 451 p.
Faye Parry, married to Cuban American Vic Rios, is taken hostage when
she interrupts a robbery in progress in a small Florida fishing village.
Subsequently brutalized by the robbers, she escapes and is brought back
to health by a host of local characters, including her Cuban mother-in-law. |
|
Iyer, Pico. Cuba and the Night (New York : Alfred A.
Knopf, 1995) 234 p.
American photojournalist Richard befriends many Cubans in his travels
in and around Havana, none more so than the lovely Lourdes, who wants him
to take her out of Cuba. |
|
Kaminsky, Stuart M. Hard Currency (New York : Fawcett
Columbine, 1995) 247 p.
Porfiry Rostinikov goes to Cuba to investigate a murder case in which
a former Russian advisor is accused of murdering a Cuban woman. |
|
Novas, Himilce. Mangos, Bananas and Coconuts: a Cuban
Love Story (Houston, Texas : Arte Publico Press, 1995) 162 p.
Guajiro and mystic Arnaldo Saavedra leaves Cuba with his newborn daughter
in a small boat in the early days of the successful Castro revolution.
They settle in New York where Esmeralda grows into a beautiful young woman
and seer. She eventually becomes deeply involved with her twin brother,
Juan, who was unknown to her and Arnaldo. |
|
Suarez, Virgil. Havana Thursdays (Houston, Texas : Arte
Publico Press, 1995) 250 p.
Zacarias Torres succumbs to a heart attack while working in the country
in Brazil. The Torres clan (Cuban American) gathers in Miami for his funeral. |
|
1996 |
|
Bernardo, Jose Raul. The Secret of the Bulls (New York
: Simon and Schuster, 1996) 299 p.
The saga of a family that must leave Batabano for Havana when their
house is destroyed by a hurricane. Maximiliano, the butcher, establishes
himself in the capital where he succeeds in business while his children
grow to maturity with a myriad of problems. |
|
Buchanan, Edna. Act of Betrayal (New York : Hyperion,
1996) 244 p.
While searching for missing adolescent boys, Cuban American investigative
reporter Britt Montero also searches for the truth about her father, who
was executed by the Castro government in the early days of the revolution. |
|
Curtis, James Roberto. Shango (Houston, Texas : Arte
Publico Press, 1996) 368 p.
Graduate student Miguel Calderon, Professor Krajewski and Detective
Osvaldo Gutierrez all get caught up in santeria murders. Student and professor
become potential victims. |
|
Garcia-Aguilera, Carolina. Bloody Waters (New York :
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1996) 274 p.
Cuban American P.I. Lupe Solano searches for the mother of an adopted
baby with congenital problems. Her search takes her on a nocturnal boat
ride to Cuba's north coast and a small fishing village. |
|
Moore, Mary. House Arrest: a Novel (New York : Nan A.
Talese, 1996) 368 p.
Travel writer Maggie Conover returns to la isla (read Cuba) where she
had visited two years earlier. During that first trip she had helped Isabel,
daughter of El Caballo (read Fidel) escape the island. Now she is held
by the Ministry of the Interior for questioning. |
|
Obejas, Achy. Memory Mambo (Pittsburgh : Cleis Press,
1996) 249 p.
Juani Casas struggles with memories of her childhood in Havana as well
as with the present reality of her extended Cuban American family in Chicago. |
|
1997 |
|
Abella, Alex. The Great American (New York : Simon and
Schuster, 1997) 445 p.
Based on a real life character, American Marine deserter William Morgan
joins the rebels against Batista in 1957, fights alongside Che Guevara
in the Escambray, and becomes a Comandante, the highest rank among the
rebels. After being Castro's personal spy in the Mafia, he becomes
embroiled in counter-revolutionary activities and is executed by the Cuban
government in 1961. |
|
Bertemetti, Richard. Project Death: a Tito Rico Mystery
(Houston, Texas : Arte Publico Press, 1997) 189 p.
Cuban American Tito Rico searches for the murderer of his friend Pepito
in the housing projects of mid-town Manhattan. |
|
Buchanan, Edna. Margin of Error (New York : Hyperion,
1997) 290 p.
Cuban American investigative reporter Britt Montero is at it again.
This time, while suffering post-traumatic stress, she and the star of a
movie being filmed in Miami are stalked by an obsessed fan. |
|
Garcia, Cristina. The Aguero Sisters (New York : Alfred
A. Knopf, 1997) 300 p.
The daughters of a Cuban naturalist who murdered his wife choose very
different paths. Reina becomes "the Amazona" electrician of Cuba; Constancia
flees the island for a successful business life but a passionless marriage
in Florida. |
|
Garcia-Aguilera, Carolina. Bloody Shame: a Lupe Solano
Mystery (New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1997) 275 p.
P.I. Lupe Solano becomes involved in a murder case involving her best
friend, a wealthy Cuban American family, and a rafter from Cuba, among
others. |
|
MacKelvie, Jock. Yanqui Guajiro (Thousand Oaks, California
: Condor Publishing, 1997) 504 p.
In 1963 aging Hollywood star Jefferson Turner falls off a charter fishing
boat from Jamaica, then gets caught in a hurricane, and finally washes
up on a beach near Santiago, Cuba. Captured by the Cuban authorities, he
is thought to be a counter-revolutionary. He subsequently escapes and winds
up with a guajiro family in the mountains of Oriente. |
|
Rivera, Beatriz. Midnight Sandwiches at the Mariposa
Express (Houston, Texas : Arte Publico Press, 1997) 182 p.
In spite of personal traumas and problems within the community, Trish
Izquierdo helps organize the annual parade and celebration in West Echevarria,
New Jersey. |
|
Veciana-Suarez, Ana. The Chin Kiss King (New York : Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 1997) 311 p.
Three generations of Cuban American women, Cuban born Cuca, her daughter
Adela, and granddaughter Maribel, suffer through the early childhood of
Maribel's son Victor, born prematurely and with a faulty heart. |
|
White, Randy Wayne. North of Havana (New York : G.P Putnam's
Sons, 1997) 241 p.
Marion "Doc" Ford leaves his Florida key retreat and goes to Havana
to try to rescue his friend Tomlinson, whose sailboat has been impounded
by Cuba. While there, Doc becomes entangled in an attempt to assassinate
Castro. |
|
1998 |
|
Abella, Alex. Dead of Night (New York : Simon and Schuster,
1998) 300 p.
Cuban born Charlie Morrell (The Killing of the Saints) returns in another
novel of mayhem and Santeria. |
|
Bernardo, Jose Raul. Silent Wing (New York : Simon &
Schuster, 1998) 236 p.
A ficitonalized account of the life of the youthful Jose Marti as a
young teacher and husband in Guatemala in 1877. |
|
Bevin, Teresa. Havana Split (Houston, Texas : Arte Publico
Press, 1998) 232 p.
Lara Caneda returns to Cuba after twenty years and visits friends and
family from Havana to Camaguey. |
|
Garcia-Aguilera, Carolina. Bloody Secrets (New York :
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1998) 274 p.
Lupe Solano takes the case of Luis Delgado, a Cuban balsero who has
finally arrived in Miami in search of his family fortune, held by the powerful
de la Torre family. |
|
Gowan, Al. Santiago Rag: A Novel of the Spanish-Cuban-American
War (Cambridge : Access Press, 1998) 320 p.
Young Gabriel Scriven and his Lakota friend T.T. (Touch The) Cloud
leave the Indian Territories to join the Rough Riders. Gabriel becomes
the bugler for Teddy Roosevelt's troops in Cuba. |
|
Leonard, Elmore. Cuba Libre (New York : Delacorte Press,
1998) 343 p.
Cowboy Ben Tyler arrives in Havana with horses and guns to sell and
becomes involved with the insurgents against Spain. Romance, an escape
from the Morro Castle, and a cross country train ride after a fortune provide
the action. |
|
Matera, Lia. Havana Twist (New York : Simon and Schuster,
1998) 271 p.
Willa Jansson goes to Havana in search of her mother, who has vanished
there while on a tour with a group, the Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom. |
|
Munoz, Elias Miguel. Brand New Memory (Houston, Texas
: Arte Publico Press, 1998) 232 p.
15 year old Gina Domingo leads a comfortable but sheltered life in
an upper-middle class enclave in Southern California. Her Cuban born parents
have disregarded their heritage until Abuela Estela, Gina's paternal grandmother,
comes to visit and opens another world of memory to Gina. |
|
Puig Zaldivar, Raquel. Women Don't Need to Write (Houston,
Texas : Arte Publico Press, 1998) 328 p.
Between 1917 and 1940 the family of Juan and Rosa Garach emigrates
from the area of Valencia, Spain, to Cuba. Business and politics keep the
family members on the move. The Castro revolution sees them dispersed,
but they all gather in Florida visiting Rosa on the occasion of her 95th
birthday. |
|
1999 |
|
Blackthorn, John [pseud. of Hart, Gary]. Sins of the
Fathers (New York : William Morrow, 1999) 344 p.
In 1999 historian Jack McLemore goes to Cuba to do research on the
Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and becomes enmeshed in a modern nuclear crisis
that culminates on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Castro revolution. |
|
Buchanan, Edna. Garden of Evil : a Britt Montero Mystery
(New York : Avon Books, Inc., 1999) 319 p.
Britt Montero becomes the captive of a female serial killer. |
|
Coltrane, James. A Good Day to Die (New York : W.W. Norton
& Company, 1999) 155 p.
A year after the death of Fidel Castro, Jorge Ortega, whose grandfather
led a battalion in the ill fated Bay of Pigs invasion, goes to Cuba to
help prepare for a new invasion. |
|
Coontz, Stephen. Cuba: a Novel (New York : St. Martins
Press, 1999) 384 p.
As Fidel Castro lies dying, various political factions in Cuba vie
for the leadership of the post-Castro era. At the same time, the United
States Navy begins removing hidden biological and chemical warheads from
the base in Guantanamo. The actions intertwine. |
|
Ephron, Amy. White Rose (New York : William Morrow and
Company, Inc., 1999) 259 p.
Karl Decker is sent to Cuba by William Randolph Hearst to rescue Evangelina
Cisneros from the Casa de Recojidas (Prison for Abandoned Women) before
she can be sent off to the infamous African prison at Ceuta. Based on a
true story. |
|
Garcia-Aguilera, Carolina. A Miracle in Paradise (New
York : Avon Books, Inc., 1999) 277 p.
Lupe Solano again. This time Lupe investigates a miracle of the Virgen
de la Caridad in a Miami convent. |
|
Hijuelos, Oscar. Empress of the Splendid Season (New
York : HarperFlamingo, 1999) 342 p.
Lydia Espana (nee Colon in Cuba) goes from a life of privilege on the
island to one of drudgery in New York, becoming a cleaning lady to support
her family. |
|
Lamar, Mario. Escape from Castro (Whitestone, Virginia
: Brandywine Pubs., Inc., 1999) 227 p.
Led by young naval officers, an anti-Castro group fails in an attempt
to assassinate Fidel Castro in 1959. Some of the conspirators survive and
live on to leave Cuba. |
|
Latour, Jose. Outcast (New York : Akashik Books, 1999)
217 p.
Elliott Stiel (Elio Estil) leaves Cuba on an American boat but is eventually
rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard from a raft with other Cubans. He works
at various jobs in Miami until he discovers that he may be one of the heirs
to his late American father's estate. |
|
McKinney, Mel. Where there's smoke (New York : St. Martin's
Press, 1999) 214 p.
Raul Salazar leaves Cuba in 1955 as the local mafia don murders the
senior Salazar. He again crosses paths with the mob when, at the time of
the Kennedy assassination in 1963, he engineers the theft of a thousand
premium Cuban cigars from the Kennedy home on Cape Cod. |
|
Mestre, Ernesto. The Lazarus Rumba (New York : Picador
USA, 1999) 486 p.
A multi-faceted novel that follows several characters in and out of
Cuba's
20th century in an exploration of the Castro revolution. |
|
Smith, Martin Cruz. Havana Bay (New York : Random House,
1999) 329 p.
Arkady Renko goes to Cuba to retrieve the remains of a colleague who
died under suspicious circumstances and becomes involved in both intrigue
and romance. |
|
Wendel, Tim. Castro's Curveball (New York : Ballantine
Books, 1999) 286 p.
In 1947 Havana Billy Bryan plays ball for the winter league Habana
Lions. He acts as pitching coach to a young revolutionary named Fidel
Castro who is offered a contract by the Washington Senators. Billy falls
in love with photographer Malena Fonseca, but must leave her on the island
when he returns to the United States. |
|
2000 |
|
Blackthorn, John (pseud. of Hart, Gary). I, Che Guevara
(New York : William Morrow and Company, Inc., 2000) 368 p.
Che Guevara returns to Cuba in the summer of 1999. In that same summer
on the 26th of July Fidel Castro announces that he will be stepping down
and that elections will be held in May, 2000. Various factions in Cuba
and the U.S. begin working toward winning that election. |
|
Brock, Darryl. Havana Heat (New York : Total Sports-Illustrated,
2000) 304 p.
In 1911 Luther "Dummy" Taylor goes to Havana , trying to get back into
major league baseball by joining John McGraw's New York Giants for some
exhibition games against the best teams of Cuba. |
|
Firmat, Gustavo Perez. Anything but Love (Houston, Texas
: Arte Publico Press, 2000) 144 p.
The same compulsive behaviour and search for truth that make Cuban
born Frank (Francisco) Guerra a successful writer of textbooks for students
of Spanish cause severe problems in his personal life. |
|
Rivera Beatriz. Playing with Light (Houston, Texas :
Arte Publico Press, 2000) 245 p.
Rebecca Barrios tries to revive the custom of tertulia (gathering of
women for chat and snacks) with her old classmates from the Academy of
the Assumption in Miami. They meet to discuss a novel of 19th century Cuba
that becomes a novel within the novel. |
|
Just Passing Through...
1942 |
|
Sabatini, Rafael. Columbus: a Romance (Boston : Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1942) 430 p.
Columbus lands and finds the natives friendly. |
|
1944 |
|
Shellabarger, Samuel. Captain from Castille (Boston :
Little, Brown and Company, 1944) 474 p.
In 1518 young Pedro de Vargas leaves Spain with other young adventurers
to seek his fortune in the new world. their ship stops in Trinidad, Cuba,
for some days en route to the richer plunders of Mexico. |
|
1966 |
|
Farina, Richard. Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to
Me (New York : Random House, 1966) 329 p.
A sixties classic, Gnossos Pappadopoulis travels from Greece to the
U.S. to revolutionary Cuba and back to Greece, merrily drinking and dopeing
as he goes. |
|
1979 |
|
Brandt, Jane Lewis. La Chingada (New York : McGraw-Hill Book Company,
1979) 465 p.
Arturo Mondragon leaves his family in San Cristobal de la Havana (the
first location of Havana), joining Hernan Cortes' expedition to Yucatan.
There he meets Malinche, who later becomes Cortes' mistress. He returns
to Cuba while Cortes continues the conquest of Mexico. While successful
in business in Cuba, Arturo's love for Malinche makes him return to find
her in 1530. |
|
1984 |
|
Michener, James A. Caribbean (New York : Random House,
1984) 672 p.
Michener spins history from pre-Columbus Arawak and Caribs through
the buccaneer to modern regimes. The section of modern Cuba, "Twins," concerns
Caterina and Placida, reuniting in 1984 Cuba after Caterina had left the
island for the U.S. in 1959. |
|
1994 |
|
DiPerna, Paula. The Discoveries of Mrs. Christopher Columbus
(Sag Harbor, New York : The Permanent Press, 1994) 287 p.
Felipa Moniz e Perestrello, wife of Columbus, keeps a ficitonal diary
of the famed 1492 voyage, including the landings in Cuba and the other
islands of the Antilles, and meetings with the inhabitants. |
|
1999 |
|
Hackman, Gene, & Daniel Lenihan. Wake of the Perdido Star (New
York : Newmarket Press, 1999) 384 p.
In 1805 17 year old Jack O'Reilly departs with his parents from Salem,
Massachusetts, to claim his mother's estate in Cuba. When his parents are
murdered and he is severely wounded, he returns to the Perdido Star and
ships out 'round the Horn to the South Pacific. Shipwreck and subsequent
years of life among the natives there intervene before he returns to Cuba
for revenge and his fortune. |
|
Created by Gene Bridwell. Last edited 30/10/2001. |