Although her father runs a veritable sugar empire, it is his son-in-law and grandson who he sees as suitable heirs.

This is made abundantly clear when her parents refuse her the opportunity to go to university, seeing it as a waste of money on a daughter who will eventually marry and stay at home. …our parents consider marriage to be the final goal for us, our success tied to the men we catch rather than our own merits. That is unsurprising given that Beatriz’s ambitions are very much divergent to the expectations of women of her class and time. The role of women is a key theme in this story. When We Left Cuba fills in the gap between the years and tells the extraordinary story of a courageous, defiant woman who society never tamed.Īuthor, Chanel Cleeton, explained that in writing Elisa’s story, which was meant to be a stand-alone, she discovered Beatriz also had a story that simply had to be told. We also met Beatriz, the older great-aunt, whose unconditional love is balanced only by the air of mystery that surrounds the remarkably accomplished older woman. We meet the girl who stands ready to defend her brother, engage with rebels and dance the night away at La Tropicana. Readers were first introduced to Beatriz in Next Year in Havana, which is her sister, Elisa’s, story. Her intense attractiveness is both a blessing and a curse a tool and a weapon and she learns to use it well.

All the Perez sisters are stunning but Beatriz is exquisite. When the ever-changing tides of history threaten everything she has fought for, she must make a choice between her past and future-but the wrong move could cost Beatriz everything-not just the island she loves, but also the man who has stolen her heart…īeatriz Perez is beautiful. Recruited by the CIA to infiltrate Fidel Castro’s inner circle and pulled into the dangerous world of espionage, Beatriz is consumed by her quest for revenge and her desire to reclaim the life she lost.Īs the Cold War swells like a hurricane over the shores of the Florida Strait, Beatriz is caught between the clash of Cuban American politics and the perils of a forbidden affair with a powerful man driven by ambitions of his own. The Cuban Revolution took everything from sugar heiress Beatriz Perez-her family, her people, her country.

In 1960s Florida, a young Cuban exile will risk her life-and heart-to take back her country in this exhilarating historical novel from the author of The Last Train to Key West and Next Year in Havana, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick.

When we left cuba