The Book of Havana

The stories gathered in this anthology reflect the many complex challenges Havana's citizens have had to endure as a result of their country's political isolation - from the hardships of the 'Special Period', to the pitfalls of Cuba's schizophrenic currency system, to the indignities of becoming a cheap tourist destination for well-heeled Westerners. Moving through various moments in its recent history, as well as through different neighbourhoods - from the prefab, Soviet-era maze of Alamar, to the bars and nightclubs of the Malecon and Vedado - these stories also demonstrate the defiance of Havana: surviving decades of economic disappointment with a flair for the comic, the surreal and the fantastical that remains as fresh as the first dreams of revolution. Translated from the Spanish by Orsola Casagrande and Seamas Carraher.