Title: The Cuban Chronicles, A True Tale of Rascals, Rogues, and Romance
Description: The Lure, and Secrets, of Cuba
Memoir unveils the truth behind the façade of the island

Some girls have all the fun. Calgarian writer Wanda St.Hilaire has taken her passion for travel, especially to Spanish speaking countries, and has given readers an opportunity to experience Cuba from an original and spirited perspective.

In the infancy of Cuba’s tourism, Wanda St.Hilaire takes a trip to the tiny island. In spite of her love of all things Latin, she puts herself on a travel ban to Castro’s Cuba, one that lasts twenty years.

When she is forced to cancel a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico at the last minute, she finds herself in Cuba twice, on back-to-back trips. Walking into the backstreets of Havana, eyes wide open, she is pulled into a dalliance with a charismatic cubano.

In The Cuban Chronicles, St.Hilaire’s travelogue/memoir, she describes how underneath the façade of Cuba’s tourism lies the desperation of a society living mostly in abject poverty. When tourists mingle with locals, we get a glimpse of what underlies the frivolity of Cuban entanglements. St.Hilaire speaks with an authentic voice and doesn’t mince words; she recounts her own activities, emotions and opinions with refreshing honesty. The author is a natural storyteller and her vivid descriptions of people and her surroundings make Cuba come alive for the reader. Being an epistolary composition (the book is based on a series of letters to a friend in Paris), the author’s tone is warm and confidential, and peppered with touches of humor. 

Think Eat, Pray, Love meets Bridget Jones’s Diary with a dash of cayenne!
Subjects: Cuba, travel, Latin men, relationships
Places: Havana, Varadero, Cuba
People: Ernesto Guevara (1928-1967), Fidel Castro (1926-2016)
Time periods: 2006