The Distant Marvels

Maria Sirena tells stories. She does it for money, and for love. But now she will be asked to tell one last story so that eight women can keep hope alive.

Cuba, 1963. Hurricane Flora is bearing down on the island. Seven women have been evacuated from their homes into the former governor's mansion, where they are watched over by another woman, Ofelia, a young soldier of Castro's new Cuba. Outside the storm is raging. In a single room on the top floor of the governor's mansion, Maria Sirena begins to tell the incredible story of her childhood during Cuba's Third War of Independence. Stories, however, have a way of taking on a life of their own, and Maria Sirena will end up revealing more than she or anyone ever expected.

"The Distant Marvels, like love itself, is both storm and shelter at once."--Justin Torres, National Book Award-winning author of Blackouts