The sugar island

by Ivonne Lamazares

"The story of a mother and daughter who flee to American shores, The Sugar Island depicts a culture in conflict with itself, where the old world chafes against the new and where a parent's desperate grab for freedom has dire consequences for her child. Remarkably, the events and potent emotions the novel evokes take place not today or yesterday but at the height of Castro's revolution four decades ago.". "The story is told in the brave, tough voice of Tanya, a girl on the verge of womanhood, who is at odds with her mother and with the rapidly changing world around her. In the wake of the revolution, Tanya's mother - passionate and unreliable - is determined to leave Cuba at all costs. She is also determined to take her reluctant daughter with her. Tanya is unsure of her mother's motives, and equally unsure of her love. When at last they embark on the perilous sea voyage to freedom, they leave behind the ruins of old Havana and a ravaged landscape. What they face in America, though, is