Next Year in Havana & When We Left Cuba

There are book club questions at the end and I would love for you to answer! If you have not yet read the novels, skip over these questions as they might contain spoilers.

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Next Year in Havana

I could not put down either of these two books… Wow just wow! Chanel Cleeton, the author of Next Year in Havana and When We Left Cuba, is a genius. Cleeton’s characters are passionate and dazzling. She explains the Cuban Revolution factually and emotionally in a well-researched and captivating way. These books can be read separately or in either order. However, I HIGHLY suggest reading Next Year in Havana first and then reading When We Left Cuba second.

Next Year in Havana follows both the lives of Elisa Perez in Cuba in the late 1950’s and her granddaughter Marisol Ferrera in the present. Elisa Perez is the daughter of a sugar baron and was part of high society in Cuba. The reader gains insight into the Cuban Revolution from the perspective of  Elisa Perez during the political unrest. Elisa Perez has interactions with danger as she has an affair with a Cuban revolutionary.

Her granddaughter, Marisol Fererra is a freelance writer that ventures to Cuba to write an article and to fulfill her late grandma’s wish to have her ashes scattered in Cuba. During Marisol’s time in Cuba, she learns about the secrets her grandma kept and learns what it truly means to be Cuban. Much like her Grandma, she has a romance that shouldn’t be. This historical novel makes you fall in love with the characters and leaves you wanting to know more. Guess what.. You can know more by reading When We Left Cuba!

When We Left Cuba

When We Left Cuba follows the life of the fierce sister of Elisa Perez named Beatriz Perez. In Florida in the 1960’s, Beatriz is caught between Cuban-American politics and the love she has for a man that she shouldn’t. Beatriz is recruited by the CIA to infiltrate Fidel Castro’s inner circle. She risks the love of a lifetime and her life for the sake of her country. You will be inspired by the bravery of Beatriz and the love she has for Cuba. Reading this book will make you question what is really important in life. I was in tears because I did not want the wonderful story of Beatriz to end!

“I told myself being a Perez meant more than being Cuban, that my responsibility to my family, to do what was expected, to be the woman my parents wanted me to be meant more than fighting for what I believed in, for speaking out against Batista’s tyranny. And the whole time we were pretending our way of life was fine, the “paradise” we’d created was really a fragile deal with a mercurial devil, and the ground beneath us shifted and cracked, destroying the world as we knew it. Fidel has shown us the cost of our silence. The danger of waiting too long to speak, of another’s voice being louder than ours because we were too busy living in the bubbles we’d created to realize the rest of Cuba had changed and left us behind.”
― Chanel Cleeton, Next Year in Havana

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Book Club Questions for Next Year in Havana:

• Marisol was born and raised in the United Sates. In this novel she steps foot in Cuba for the very first time. How much do you think a physical place defines someone’s identity?
• Marisol and Luis fell in love in a few days. Do you think their relationship will last and do you think it’s possible to fall in love that quickly?
• Do you think Elisa loved her husband like she loved Pablo? Or do you think the memory and love she had for Pablo was too strong for any other love to compare?

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Book Club Questions for When We Left Cuba:

• Beatriz and Nick made the hard decision to separate. Do you think this was the right decision? Do you think they could have stayed together? Why or why not?
• Being loyal to the Perez family is a strong theme throughout the novel. Do you think Beatriz chose Cuba over her family? Why or why not?
• Did you like When We Left Cuba or Next Year in Havana more and why?

I would love to know your thoughts and answers to these questions in the comments!
Xo Haley Jean