Hardcover, 320 pages
Published May 4th 2021 by Berkley
Author Chanel Cleeton
My Review
Though the author has many other books that look fabulous this is my first read by her.
The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba is based on many true events that took place.
I absolutely love reading historical fiction because of what I learn from them.
The author has put in double time doing her research for this one I do believe!
It was fascinating to learn so many facts that were previously unknown to me such as the fierce circulation war between William Randolph Hearst Sr. and Joseph Pulitzer. Hearst got ahead by sensationalizing his paper's headlines. This newspaper battle takes place during the Gilded Age New York City where showgirls and yacht parties were commonplace
for these tycoons.
There are three story lines going here with the fight for freedom of Cuba mainly focusing on the extraordinary woman, Cuban revolutionary Evangelina Cisneros.
She was exiled with her father to the Isle of Pines and then imprisoned in Recogidas prison which had horrific conditions. She was helped to escape by a Journal reporter.
She became famous after her jail break and many newspaper articles were
written about her.
She was given the title of "The Most Beautiful Girl In Cuba" by the American newspapers.
Many of the articles written about her were a caricature of her and people's opinions were shaped by how the articles were written not by Evangelina's true character.
"The war for independence from Spain is one of the darkest and most heartbreaking times in Cuban history" While not having the exact number it is estimated that one third of Cuba's population was sent to Spanish concentration camps which resulted
in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Very dark time for Cuba!
I am sure Cuba still celebrates it's formal freedom today after gaining it from the
United States May 20th 1902.
I suggest you read the author's notes at the back of the book that accompany the story.
Absolutely excellent book, a story that needed to be told!
Pub Date 04 May 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.
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GoodReads Summary
At the end of the nineteenth century, three revolutionary women fight for freedom in New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton’s captivating new novel inspired by real-life events and the true story of a legendary Cuban woman–Evangelina Cisneros–who changed the course of history.
A feud rages in Gilded Age New York City between newspaper tycoons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. When Grace Harrington lands a job at Hearst’s newspaper in 1896, she’s caught in a cutthroat world where one scoop can make or break your career, but it’s a story emerging from Cuba that changes her life.
Unjustly imprisoned in a notorious Havana women’s jail, eighteen-year-old Evangelina Cisneros dreams of a Cuba free from Spanish oppression. When Hearst learns of her plight and splashes her image on the front page of his paper, proclaiming her, “The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba,” she becomes a rallying cry for American intervention in the battle for Cuban independence.
With the help of Marina Perez, a courier secretly working for the Cuban revolutionaries in Havana, Grace and Hearst’s staff attempt to free Evangelina. But when Cuban civilians are forced into reconcentration camps and the explosion of the USS Maine propels the United States and Spain toward war, the three women must risk everything in their fight for freedom.
About The Author
Website
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Chanel Cleeton is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick Next Year in Havana, When We Left Cuba, The Last Train to Key West, and The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba. Originally from Florida, Chanel grew up on stories of her family's exodus from Cuba following the events of the Cuban Revolution. Her passion for politics and history continued during her years spent studying in England where she earned a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Richmond, The American International University in London and a master's degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Chanel also received her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law.
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