Summary

The preface opens with the perspective of Carmen in Miami, 2018. Carmen addresses her daughter, Jeanette, who is struggling with a life-threatening addiction. Carmen reminisces on Jeanette’s childhood and also reflects on her own life decisions and parenting style, wondering whether she has been too hard and emotionless as a mother. Carmen reveals that she has lived in fear for her whole life and has always kept the reason for her coming to America a secret.

In Chapter 1, the narrative shifts to María Isabel, Camagüey, 1866. María is working a shift at the cigar workshop, where she is the only female employee. The lector, Antonio, reads out loud a letter from the editors of the newspaper La Aurora, which celebrates the good morals observed by Cuba’s cigar makers as evidence that Cuba is progressing as a society. María...