Cuban Quartermoon by Ann Putnam. There's something about tropical climes that invites drama; in the background, beyond the poolside cocktails and seaside views, the sultry heat arouses long-denied passions and the glistening sun illuminates feelings better kept hidden. In Putnam's story of Laura, a Hemingway scholar visiting an embargoed Cuba for an academic conference, the protagonist finds herself ill-prepared for the poverty and struggles the locals face on a daily basis, and her attempts to help her new maybe-friends result in the collision of memories and desires stemming from the loss of parents to children, of children to parents, and lovers to each other. By turns lyrically magical and brutally real, we cannot help but be swept along in Laura's journey, from touring Papa's house to visiting a
santería priest to confronting the darkness within herself. Putnam has been to Cuba several times and creates a sense of place that is as palpable as the narrative is emotional.
(Full disclosure: Ann is my much-beloved mother-in-law.)
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