Find Me in Havana
A Novel
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of THE GIRLS WITH NO NAMES, a new historical novel based on the dazzling story of one of Hollywood’s most celebrated Hispanic actresses and her daughter’s search for closure.
“Told in a series of letters, FIND ME IN HAVANA is a beautiful and heart-wrenching story of mothers and daughters, and the American Dream that comes with the biggest price of all. I couldn’t put it down!” — Heather Webb, USA Today bestselling author
Cuba, 1936: When Estelita Rodriguez sings in a hazy Havana nightclub for the very first time, she is nine years old. From then on, that spotlight of adoration—from Havana to New York’s Copacabana and then Hollywood—becomes the one true accomplishment no one can take from her. Not the 1933 Cuban Revolution that drove her family into poverty. Not the revolving door of husbands or the fickle world of film.
Thirty years later, her young adult daughter, Nina, is blindsided by her mother’s mysterious death. Seeking answers, the grieving Nina navigates the troubling, opulent memories of their life together and discovers how much Estelita sacrificed to live the American dream on her own terms.
Based on true events and exclusive interviews with Nina Lopez, Estelita’s daughter, Find Me in Havana weaves two unforgettable voices into one extraordinary story that explores the unbreakable bond between mother and child, and the ever-changing landscape of self-discovery.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Burdick (The Girls With No Names) delivers a poignant and gripping account of the life of Cuban actress Estelita Rodriquez (1928 1966) through letters between Estelita and her daughter, Nina. At 15, Estelita travels to New York with her mother to sing at the Copacabana. She meets Chu Chu Martinez, a famous Mexican singer, and by 18 she is married and living in Mexico with Chu Chu and their six-week-old baby, Nina. Soon, though, Chu Chu forbids her to perform again. She escapes to Los Angeles with Nina and settles in with her mother, who talks her into signing a movie deal with Republic Pictures. However, Hollywood and fame leave less time for Nina, who is sent to boarding school. In 1958, when Nina is 12 and at home on summer break, she is kidnapped by Chu Chu. What follows is a chase through Mexico and a harrowing stay in Cuba during the revolution. With great skill, Burdick weaves a heartbreaking narrative of a star's rise and fall, and whose unexplained death at 37 deeply affects her daughter. Estelita's sacrifices and determination as a mother and an artist make for a deeply affecting tragedy.
