Los zapaticos de... Bala Cynwyd?
What was this most Cuban of books doing in this decidedly not-Cuban suburb of Philadelphia? The only reasonable explanation was that it was a message (of encouragement, I hope) from my grandmother, from the great beyond!
Why the 1890s?
I was moved by the palpable sense of hope, the grand vision for the future Cuban republic with the new century on the horizon, and the sudden and anticlimactic way it came to an end with the intervention and occupation of the United States.