My most recent read is one I’ve been waiting impatiently for over a year for. I discovered Chanel Cleeton’s books along with likely many of her readers, through Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club. Say what you will about celebrity Book Clubs, but Reese’s picks have brought to light some beautiful stories about women over the years, as all of her book picks have a woman at the center of them.
Chanel Cleeton’s books to date are centered largely on a Cuban family, the Perez’s, and this book is no exception. This latest book takes us back quite a few years from her others though, with the story of three women living in the time of The Cuban Independence Movement during the Gilded Age.
Our heroines are Grace Harrington, an aspiring journalist in Gilded Age New York; Evangelina Cisneros a prominent young woman who is unjustly imprisoned in Havana (who is real and helped change the course of history); and Marina Perez (yes, of the previously mentioned Perez family!) who is acting as a secret courier for the Cuban Revolutionaries while her husband is away at war.
While I am a native Florida and aware of much of the history of Cuba, this era when Cuba was under rule of the Spanish was one I was less familiar with. This novel felt heavier than Cleeton’s previous novels and rightly so given the atrocities that occurred against the Cuban people under the Spanish during this time.
An avid reader of historical fiction, particularly involving war, this was quite well done in my opinion. Our heroines pulled you in quickly to their struggles for independence and security. The vivid depiction of Evangelina’s imprisonment, as well as Marina’s time as a courier whilst living in the reconcentration camps run by the Spanish, transport you there with them.
You cannot help but hope all three women find what they ultimately desire by the end.
Should you read it?
Yes! Particularly if you are a fan of historical fiction and learning more about a woman who ended up influencing a war.
A Book Mood 