Following U.S.-Cuba relations allowing for limited travel between the two countries, Chanel Cleeton’s narrative Next Year in Havana provides contrasting accounts of Havana, told through the eyes of young Elisa Perez in 1958 alongside those of her granddaughter Marisol Ferrera in 2017. This historical fiction novel is set in Havana, Cuba, both during and decades after the Cuban Revolution, when Cleeton’s own family was forced to leave Cuba and move to Miami. Cleeton writes about, among others, themes of political ideology, family, and romance.
