The Island of Eternal Love Hardcover - 2008

by Daina Chaviano

An enchanting multigenerational epic of threefamilies from Africa, Spain, and China andtheir bond to one another and the islandthey call home.

Cecilia is alone in a city that haunts her. Life inMiami evokes memories of Cuba: a scent in thebreeze like the sea at the Malecón; the beat ofa clave recalls island evenings when couplesdanced to forgotten rhythms. Far from her family,her history, and her home, Cecilia seeks refugein a bar in Little Havana, where a mysteriousold woman's fascinating tale keeps her returningnight after night.

It is a story of three families from oppositecorners of the world from Africa, Spain, andChina that spans more than a century. Withinit, a Chinese widow seeks protection for herdaughter in her family's idols; an African slavebrings the rhythms of her birth to an enchantedisland; and a curse dances before the femaledescendants of a charmed Spanish matriarch,forming the mythic origins of one family's indestructiblebond. The connection strengthenswith each generation into a legendary, unbreakablelove. Under the story's heady sway, Ceciliabegins to discover the source of the elusiveshadows that plague her and, along with it, a linkto the past she cannot shake.

From Daína Chaviano, a distinctive literary voiceavailable to English-speaking readers for thefirst time, comes this multifaceted portrait of theCuba of this century. As haunting as it is tantalizing,The Island of Eternal Love is an ambitious,provocative, and magical novel that uncovers thesecrets of a woman, a family, and an island allin one spellbinding tale.