Telex From Cuba

Telex from Cuba
by Rachel Kushner
ISBN: 978-1-4165-6103-3
Selected by George Newton

From the Publisher: Young Everly Lederer and K. C. Stites come of age in Oriente Province, where the Americans tend their own fiefdom -- three hundred thousand acres of United Fruit Company sugarcane that surround their gated enclave. If the rural tropics are a child's dreamworld, Everly and K.C. nevertheless have keen eyes for the indulgences and betrayals of the grown-ups around them -- the mordant drinking and illicit loves, the race hierarchies and violence.

In Havana, a thousand kilometers and a world away from the American colony, a cabaret dancer meets a French agitator named Christian de La Mazière, whose seductive demeanor can't mask his shameful past. Together they become enmeshed in the brewing political underground. When Fidel and Raúl Castro lead a revolt from the mountains above the cane plantation, torching the sugar and kidnapping a boat full of "yanqui" revelers, K.C. and Everly begin to discover the brutality that keeps the colony humming. Though their parents remain blissfully untouched by the forces of history, the children hear the whispers of what is to come.

At the time, urgent news was conveyed by telex. Kushner's first novel is a tour de force, haunting and compelling, with the urgency of a telex from a forgotten time and place.


George Newton has lived in Brooks for 15 years. He is currently serving as President of the Chamber of Commerce for his second term and is also a member of Rotary Club. George is a very active person and especially loves to play tennis. George chose this book because the subject of the book interested George and he really enjoys historical novels. He feels that there is not a lot known about Cuba in the 1950s. He thought it was very interesting with authentic facts as the author had family members with personal experience in Cuba. He refers to it as an eye opening account of what went on in Cuba during the time when the then Cuban government was chasing the Americans out of the country.


Learn more about this book from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Check out this book from BPL.

Learn more about author Rachel Kushner from her official site at Simon & Schuster.

Go in depth, see photos from the period, and learn more about Cuba's history at the offical site for Telex From Cuba.