Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy

Have mercy on me, Lord, I am Cuban. In 1962, Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 children airlifted out of Havanaexiled from his family, his country, and his own childhood by Fidel Castros revolution. Winner of the National Book Award, this stunning memoir is a vibrant and evocative look at Latin America from a childs unforgettable experience.

Waiting for Snow in Havana is both an exorcism and an ode to a paradise lost. For the Cuba of Carloss youthwith its lizards and turquoise seas and sun-drenched siestasbecomes an island of condemnation once a cigar-smoking guerrilla named Fidel Castro ousts President Batista on January 1, 1959. Suddenly the music in the streets sounds like gunfire. Christmas is made illegal, political dissent leads to imprisonment, and too many of Carloss friends are leaving Cuba for a place as far away and unthinkable as the United States. Carlos will end up there, too, and fulfill his mothers dreams by becoming a modern American maneven if his soul remains in the country he left behind.

Narrated with the urgency of a confession, Waiting for Snow in Havana is a eulogy for a native land and a loving testament to the collective spirit of Cubans everywhere.