Her entry begins:
I’m currently reading the novel Forbidden Notebook by Cuban Italian writer Alba de Céspedes, first published in Italy in 1952 and newly translated by Ann Goldstein (revered for her translations of Elena Ferrante’s work).About One Brilliant Flame, from the publisher:
Forbidden Notebook is the story of a middle-aged petit bourgeois working housewife, Valeria Cossati, who secretly acquires a notebook. When she starts privately jotting down her honest observations, the livable fictions she’s constructed about her work, family, and social world all begin to crumble, and she has to decide what actions to take about...[read on]
A nineteenth-century utopia becomes a powder keg of political intrigue and betrayal in an enthralling historical novel―inspired by actual events―by the author of Flight Risk.Visit Joy Castro’s website and Twitter perch.
Key West, 1886. The booming cigar industry makes it the most prosperous city in Florida. As a rebel base for the anticolonial insurgency in Cuba, it’s also a tinderbox for six young friends with ambitious dreams.
They all brim with secrets: Zenaida, the daughter of an assassinated Havana journalist; power-hungry Sofia, who plots afast track to success; Chaveta, Zenaida’s loyal comrade in arms who fearlessly flouts tradition; Feliciano, a charismatic Spanish anarchist; Líbano, the cafetero, silent and watchful; and Maceo, a daring guerrilla soldier who fights a brutal undertow. As lives intertwine, revolution smolders, and passions ignite, the bustling coral island is set to explode.
Against the backdrop of the Great Fire of Key West, One Brilliant Flame explores the luminous fates of consuming passion and encroaching peril in the face of insurrection, sacrifice, and inextinguishable hope.
The Page 69 Test: Hell or High Water.
Writers Read: Joy Castro (July 2012).
Writers Read: Joy Castro (July 2013).
The Page 69 Test: Nearer Home.
Q&A with Joy Castro.
My Book, The Movie: Flight Risk.
The Page 69 Test: Flight Risk.
Writers Read: Joy Castro.
--Marshal Zeringue
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