Next year in havana summary
Next Year in Havana Summary & Study Guide
The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Cleeton, Chanel. Next Year in Havana. Berkley, 2018.
Cleeton’s novel is divided into 31 chapters, each from the perspective of either Elisa Perez in the late 1950s or her future granddaughter, Marisol Ferrera in 2017. Both of these characters are in Cuba, and both are first-person narrators. Elisa is 19, living in the Miramar district of Havana with her family, and Marisol is in her thirties, visiting Cuba from Miami, returning her grandmothers ashes to her home.
Elisa begins the novel waiting in the airport in Havana with her family, forced into exile by the country’s new political regime. Her sisters, Isabel, Beatriz, and Maria stand alongside her and their parents, Emilio and Mrs. Perez. They do not comprehend when they will be qualified to return.
Marisol, 60 years later, following Elisa passing away, starts the novel on a plane from the U.S. going to Cuba. As Elisa’s granddaughter, she is on a mission to learn as much as her grandmother’s childhood home as feasible, as well as to choose where to lay Elisa to rest. She is smuggling her ashes into Havana, and is wary of the gov
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Next Year in Havana
Chanel Cleeton, 2019
Penguin Publishing
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399586682
Summary
After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity—and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution.
Havana, 1958.
The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest--until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary...
Miami, 2017.
Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.
Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate.
When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meani
Book Review of
Next Year In Havana
Lynn's Review
Next Year In Havana by Chanel Cleeton was published in 2018. It is historical fiction.
Next Year In Havana is an example of historical fiction that I love. I think this was so well done. It is historical fiction at its best.
The writing is so well done with great descriptions of the places and people. The characters have depth to them and they give you an understanding that what often seems so simple, really isn’t.
This book was also so clean compared to some other recent historical fiction books that I have read. Which is another reason that I appreciated it.
Next Year In Havana is set in 1950s Cuba and Florida in 2017. Marisol lives in Florida and after her grandmother dies, she travels to Cuba to spread her grandmother’s ashes. In the process, she learns secrets that her grandmother kept for years.
Those secrets go back to her Cuban family from the time of Batista’s overthrowing to Fidel Castro taking power to their journey to America.
It is a story of a family and the Cuban revolution, but it is about so much more. It is not only the story of the family but of Cuba and its people.
It takes you to a time and p
The Ending of Next Year in Havana
Next Year in Havanais a historical fiction by Chanel Cleeton, and also a romance novel.
The book tells the story of two women, a granddaughter, Marisol, and a grandmother, Elisa, separated by decades. On a trip to Cuba, to say goodbye to her grandmother, Marisol learns about the history of Cuba and her grandmother’s history growing up there. In the course of the trip, Marisol retraces Elisa’s footsteps and discovers family secrets. The story is both moving and informative about the history and culture of Cuba.
The main themes in the book are love, family, identity, and politics.
spoilers ahead
Marisol Visits Cuba
The book starts in Havana, Cuba, in 1959. The story begins from the perspective of Elisa. To be more precise, it starts at the airport, as the Perez family flees their home to escape Castro. The Perez family was part of the wealthy class, with ties to Batista, and they were in Castro’s sights as he got rid of anyone connected to the old regime.
The Perez family leaving Cuba is a family of 6, the parents and four sisters. They are not allowed to take any of their valuables, only one suitcase each. The
Book: Next Year in Havana
Author: Chanel Cleeton
Pages: 394
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Plot Summary: After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity--and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution...
Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest--until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary...
Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.
Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her