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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
 
1851
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
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
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
  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

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

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.
 
1922
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.
 
1924
  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.
 
1928
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.
 
1933
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.
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
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
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
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.
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
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
  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.
 
1948
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
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.
 
1950
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.
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.
 
1952
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.
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
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.
  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
  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.
  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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
 
1966
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.