Our Next Good Read. . .Leaving Glorytown: One Boy’s Struggle Under Castro

Join us March 4th at Bookworks from 5:00-7:00 pm to discuss our next book.  We are reading Leaving Glorytown: One Boy’s Struggle Under Castro by Eduardo F. Calcines.

Here’s a sneak peek into the book:
Eduardo F. Calcines was a child of Fidel Castro’s Cuba; he was just three years old when Castro came to power in January 1959. After that, everything changed for his family and his country. When he was ten, his family applied for an exit visa to emigrate to America and he was ridiculed by his schoolmates and even his teachers for being a traitor to his country. But even worse, his father was sent to an agricultural reform camp to do hard labor as punishment for daring to want to leave Cuba. During the years to come, as he grew up in Glorytown, a neighborhood in the city of Cienfuegos, Eduardo hoped with all his might that their exit visa would be granted before he turned fifteen, the age at which he would be drafted into the army. In this absorbing memoir, by turns humorous and heartbreaking, Eduardo Calcines recounts his boyhood and chronicles the conditions that led him to wish above all else to leave behind his beloved extended family and his home for a chance at a better future.

For more information, click here to watch an interview with Calcines, the author of the book.

I’m excited to be reading this one! Recently I’ve been reading a number of memoirs, but this may be the first memoir I’ve read that was written for young adults. Be sure to get entered in our drawing for one of five free copies of the book!! All you have to do is comment on any blog post before February 14th!

We hope to see you on March 4th!!

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