The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
Named one of 2021’s Most Anticipated Historical Novels and Best Beach Reads by Entertainment Weekly ∙ Oprah Magazine ∙ Travel + Leisure ∙ BuzzFeed ∙ Parade ∙ PopSugar ∙ Bustle ∙ SheReads ∙ Brit + Co and more!
“An exciting and inspiring read that shows us how womanhood, courage and revolution are three words that often mean the same thing.”―NPR
At the end of the nineteenth century, three revolutionary women fight for freedom in New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton's captivating new novel inspired by real-life events and the true story of a legendary Cuban woman—Evangelina Cisneros—who changed the course of history.
A feud rages in Gilded Age New York City between newspaper tycoons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. When Grace Harrington lands a job at Hearst's newspaper in 1896, she’s caught in a cutthroat world where one scoop can make or break your career, but it’s a story emerging from Cuba that changes her life.
Unjustly imprisoned in a notorious Havana women's jail, eighteen-year-old Evangelina Cisneros dreams of a Cuba free from Spanish oppression. When Hearst learns of her plight and splashes her image on the front page of his paper, proclaiming her, "The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba," she becomes a rallying cry for American intervention in the battle for Cuban independence.
With the help of Marina Perez, a courier secretly working for the Cuban revolutionaries in Havana, Grace and Hearst's staff attempt to free Evangelina. But when Cuban civilians are forced into reconcentration camps and the explosion of the USS Maine propels the United States and Spain toward war, the three women must risk everything in their fight for freedom.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cleeton (The Last Train to Key West) spins an enchanting historical novel based on the story of Cuban rebel Evangelina Cisneros. In 1896 New York City, journalist Grace Harrington, aspiring to be the next Nellie Bly, wangles a job with William Randolph Hearst's publication, the New York Journal. As Grace is settling in as a "stunt girl" reporter, a parallel narrative follows Evangelina in Cuba, where she is imprisoned for refusing the advances of an enemy Spanish soldier. The incident prompts Hearst to turn Evangelina's story into a plea for American involvement in Cuba's fight for independence, and he gives Grace the assignment. The Journal's go-between is Marina Perez, disowned by her wealthy family after marrying a farmer turned revolutionary and trying to make ends meet for her and her daughter by taking in laundry, which provides the perfect cover for covert messaging between Evangelina and Grace. Further intrigue emerges when Grace turns out to be a spy for Hearst's rival Joseph Pulitzer, an allegiance she gives up after Hearst entrusts her with the story. Cleeton skillfully brings off the three strong women's heartbreaking stories with intriguing twists and turns and a delightful finale. With impeccable research and perfect pacing, Cleeton makes the most of her subject.
