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Summary
Summary
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.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
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. Agent: Stephanie Delman, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (Jan.)
Booklist Review
This sweeping historical-fiction account of the life of the renowned Cuban actress Estelita Rodriguez and her daughter, Nina Lopez, is told through letters from the 1930s to the 1960s. Estelita rose from Havana's nightclub scene at the tender age of nine to the screens of several Hollywood Westerns alongside Roy Rogers and John Wayne by the time she was 14, armed with a powerful voice and a compelling beauty, and with her mother, Maria, along for the ride. Estelita's marriage to, and eventual divorce from, singer Chu-Chu Martinez results in young Nina being away from her father as Estelita moves on to the next husband. When Chu-Chu decides Nina is better off under his thumb in Mexico, Estelita devises a rescue operation that lands them in Cuba with her sisters, just as the revolution reaches their door. The Hollywood glamour and the struggles of war will appeal to history fans while Nina and Estelita's relationship will draw lovers of women's fiction. The true gem in this story is learning how the author developed the tale of real-life Estelita through interviews with Nina.