Stealing Castro S Daughter

Many fall for Cuba's music, its dance, the enduring strength and charm of its people. Award-winning actor Lee Brooks fell for one of its women. But how to pluck this forbidden fruit away from the so-called island frozen in time, where even romance can be illegal? Out-foxing the Castro regime's state military apparatus, only to be forced into a shady web of human smugglers and a months-long limbo at sea, Brooks and his Cuban princess show that not only does love conquer all, but that when it comes to Cuba, fact is often much wilder than any kind of fiction. Stealing Castro's Daughter is a tour de force of adventure romance set against the lush tapestry of Caribbean's crown jewel, at one of the most important junctures of the island's rich history. Surrounded by poverty, struggle and sacrifice, this is the real Cuba, and two people's real determination to overcome the odds and escape into love's lasting embrace. With its gritty hairpin turns, heartfelt honesty and sensual prose, Brooks captures the aching beauty of Cuba, and a desire that defies all obstacles. Read and be awed. Ben Corbett: Author of This is Cuba

Many fall for Cuba's music, its dance, the enduring strength and charm of its people. Award-winning actor Lee Brooks fell for one of its women. But how to pluck this forbidden fruit away from the so-called island frozen in time, where even romance can be illegal? Out-foxing the Castro regime's state military apparatus, only to be forced into a shady web of human smugglers and a months-long limbo at sea, Brooks and his Cuban princess show that not only does love conquer all, but that when it comes to Cuba, fact is often much wilder than any kind of fiction. Stealing Castro's Daughter is a tour de force of adventure romance set against the lush tapestry of Caribbean's crown jewel, at one of the most important junctures of the island's rich history. Surrounded by poverty, struggle and sacrifice, this is the real Cuba, and two people's real determination to overcome the odds and escape into love's lasting embrace. With its gritty hairpin turns, heartfelt honesty and sensual prose, Brooks captures the aching beauty of Cuba, and a desire that defies all obstacles. Read and be awed. Ben Corbett: Author of This is Cuba

"Mommy, mommy, call him. Tell him to come here right away. I have so many things to tell him!" I had a ton of things to tell him. I wanted him to find a solution to all the shortages of clothes; of meat, so it would again be distributed through the ration books. I also wanted to ask him to give our Christmas back. And to come live with us. I wanted to let him know how much we really needed him... Fidel didn't answer my letter. I kept writing him letters from a sweet and well-behaved child, a brave but sad girl. Letters resembling those of a secret, spurned lover... As a girl growing up in Cuba, Alina Fernandez found nothing abnormal in the fact that Fidel Castro would occasionally visit her house bearing gifts just for her. At the age of ten, her mother finally told her the truth: she was Castro's Daughter.

This may well be the most significant piece of writing to come out of Cuba in 33 years--or the life of the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Since Fidel Castro has always made the claim that "History Shall Absolve Me," the author of this book, journalist, writer and human rights activist, Roberto Luque Escalona, subjects this self-inflicted judgment to the facts of real history and finds that history shall condemn rather than absolve the long-standing dictator of Cuba. The Castro regime is besieged by internal and external pressures. The worsening economic crisis in Cuba is the result of changes taking place in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, where nations that have begun liberating themselves from the yoke of totalitarian regimes have made it evident that the Castro government is simply ill prepared to respond to new winds of doctrine or to accept a situation in which Castro no longer is sovereign ruler. How Castro got the way he is is at the heart and soul of this extraordinary memoir--filled with a level of intimate details unrivaled in any other analysis. Robert Luque Escalona is not a persecuted figure or a world-famous dissident--or at least he was not until the publication of "The Tiger and the Children. "Nor is this a prison memoir. He belongs to the immense anonymous majority that suffers in silence the consequences of a disastrous dictatorship. The author has defied Fidel from his position as a free man--free at least in spirit--conscious of the consequences of such a bold statement. This is a consummate work of social history, political analysis, and moral judgment. It will be read by everyone from Latin Americanists to those interested in the real character of comparative politics.

Bertrand Du Guesclin was one of the great heroes of medieval France. His engaging, adventurous life story embodies all the drama and excitement of the Hundred Years War. The rise of Bertrand du Guesclin ranks as one of the most spectacular adventures in a fourteenth century rich in heroic tales. A poor Breton squire, ungainly and unlettered, he came of age at the onset of the Hundred Years War. Hespent two decades engaged in irregular warfare in his native province before he became a knight, and was recognised by Charles V as the captain France needed. Du Guesclin fought on campaign from Normandy to Andalusia, tasted victory, was taken captive - and was finally victorious again, over such famed adversaries as Sir John Chandos and the Black Prince. He won a dukedom in Spain, but it was as Constable of France that he spearheaded the reconquest of French provinces lost after the defeat at Poitiers. His body was laid to rest among kings in the royal basilica of Saint-Denis, enshrined as the Tenth Worthy, hero of the last Old French epic, but Du Guesclin's spiritlives on in literature and folk memory, as flower of chivalry, soldier's soldier, patriot, and liberator of his country. RICHARD VERNIER is Professor Emeritus, Romance Languages and Literatures, Wayne State University.

The illegitimate daughter of Fidel Castro describes her relationship with him as a child and her decision to discontinue their relationship

Beautiful, yet mysterious and deadly, Pilar Rivera is forced into a life of kill or be killed. She has killer good looks and knows how to use them as she stalks and shoots the man who raped her in Havana when she was 16 – and becomes entwined in the crime of the ages. Rumored to be Ernest Hemingway’s Cuban daughter, Pilar is a female Jason Bourne, a woman without a country, loyal only to herself, who will kill for money but charges nothing for revenge. It’s an amazing tale of sex, murder and intrigue, set in the turbulent times of the Cold War, as it moves from Cuba to Russia, New York to Paris, Miami to New Orleans then on to Dallas that notorious day in November. The story swirls around two larger-than-life figures of the 20th century – John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro – along with a parade of iconic personalities: Jackie and Bobby, Marilyn and Sinatra, Che and Raul, Oswald and Ruby, the rat pack, the mob, the CIA and Hemingway. It’s a fast-paced thriller, as told by Jack Ruby, the last man standing, the only person involved still alive – except for the girl who shot JFK.