My Rating: 4 stars
So far, I have read all 4 of Chanel Cleeton's historical fiction novels and have enjoyed all of them. Starting with Next Year in Havana, which first introduced us to the Perez family and their subsequent exodus from Cuba, then later her follow-up novel When We Left Cuba, where she continued the family's story after their arrival in the United States, to last year's standalone novel The Last Train to Key West, and now her most recent release The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba, Cleeton not only pays tribute to her own Cuban heritage, she also sheds light on a few little-known historical events that have been fascinating to learn about.
This time around, in her latest work, Cleeton tells the story of Evangelina Cisneros, a real-life Cuban woman who was part of the fight for Cuba's independence from Spanish occupation at the end of the nineteenth century. At the age of only eighteen, Evangelina was separated from her family and unjustly thrown into a Havana jail notorious for its squalid conditions. When Evangelina's situation is brought to the attention of an American audience via New York newspaper reporters stationed in Cuba, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the international spotlight – in addition to being dubbed "the most beautiful girl in Cuba" by the media, she also becomes a rallying cry on the political front for those pushing American intervention in Cuba. At the same time, Marina Perez is separated from her beloved husband Mateo when he goes off to join the Cuban revolutionaries – shortly afterward, she and her 7-year-old daughter Isabella and mother-in-law Luz lose everything they own when Spanish soldiers burn down their farm and force them into reconcentration camps where, in order to survive, Marina secretly works as a courier passing messages to the revolutionaries. Meanwhile, in New York, Grace Harrington lands a dream job as a female journalist at the Journal, run by famous newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, where she hopes to catch that one big scoop that will allow her to be taken seriously as an independent woman trying to prove herself in the ruthless world of news media. The lives of these 3 women converge and are changed forever when the situation in Cuba becomes most dire and the United States is spurred into war with Spain for control over the territory.
Once again, Cleeton tells a compelling story from the alternating perspectives of 3 women whose backgrounds and circumstances couldn't be more different, yet they are brought together with the common goal of fighting for freedom – whether for themselves as individuals or for their country. As was the case with Cleeton's previous books, the story features strong female protagonists who defy convention as well as the restrictions placed upon them by society, ultimately rising above their circumstances with courage and grace. Having said that though, there was one slight difference I noticed this time around: with Cleeton's previous book, which was also narrated from the different perspectives of the 3 main female characters, I had actually liked all 3 story arcs equally – with this one though, I actually preferred Marina's and Grace's story arcs to Evangelina's, which is a bit ironic given Evangelina's story is technically the main arc that everything else revolves around. It didn't occur to me at first, but after I read the Author's Note -- where Cleeton explains how, with Evangelina's story, most of the sources available, including the autobiography of her life, were written by people associated with Hearst's New York Journal newspaper, which was locked in a fierce circulation battle with the rival paper run by Joseph Pulitzer at the time, so unfortunately, much of the information was sensationalized and likely overdramatized in order to attract buyers, making it hard to separate the true facts of Evangelina's life from the embellished ones – it made sense why Evangelina's story arc felt a bit "off" to me (I realize now that what was "off" with the story was that it felt too incredulous and farcical – by comparisons, both Marina's and Grace's stories felt much more realistic). For me, I would've preferred Marina's story to be the main one — I think the book overall would've been more powerful and emotional if that had been the case.
With all that said, I still enjoyed this quite a bit. Chanel Cleeton is a great storyteller and writer — when reading her books, it's easy to become absorbed and lose yourself in the stories she crafts based off her thorough and extensive research. I also love the way she weaves a connection to the Perez name through all of her books (some more subtly than others) — every time I read one of her books, I feel compelled to go back and re-read Next Year in Havana again to find the connection. Cleeton's books have definitely become "must-reads" for me and of course, I look forward to seeing what she has in store for us next, both from a story and character perspective (and yes, I will continue to look for the Perez connection as well)!
Received ARC from Berkley via Edelweiss.
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