Modern Cuba through the eyes of a Havana doctor as she copes with the attentions of two polar-opposite brothers and at the same time, tries to integrate her nation's historic past with her own unsettled present.
Celia Cantu, a pedetrician in Havana, is trying to live a regular life in today's Cuba. Her engagement to childhood friend Luis Lago, a high-level government official, is disrupted by the return of Luis' younger brother Joe, to whom Celia was engaged ten years earlier, prior to Jose moving to Miami. Meanwhile, Celia is trying to keep up with the worrisome activities of Liliana, the16-year-old niece who lives with her. Joe's arrival and Liliana's adolescent restlessness force Celia to examine the discrepancy between her country's revolutionary ideas and its reality.
As this family drama unfolds, Celia is unnerved by moments whenher mind and body seem to be taken over by Celia Sanchez, a heroine of the Revolution and intimate of Fidel Castro. The turbulent past and an uncertain future collide when Liliana disappears and Celia sets out into the Cuban countryside in search of her.
Professional Reviews
The Woman She Was
Review
The Woman She Was is richly imagined, vibrant with details of Cuban culture and geography, impassioned by its language, its sultry weather. From Havana's elegant shabby streets to the peaks of the Sierra Maestra, still haunted by the ghosts of the Revolution, the reader is plunged into the enigmatic legacy of Cuba's history and how it shapes the characters of this intelligent and original novel. —Theresa Kishkan
(2012-09-01)
The Woman She Was
A compelling story of the social conflicts of modern day Cuba told in very readable terms. The use of many short chapters is appreciated by those of us who frequently pick up a book, have time to read a little, then must put it back down. Ms. Jordan introduces us to Celia Sanchez, a quiet but powerfully insightful woman who worked from the shadows to be a major force in the Cuban revolution and the shaping of modern day Cuba. Readers will be intrigued to read about Castro joining Celia Sanchez's revolutionary forces in 1956 or her strong influence on many of his later sociopolitical decisions. Che got the press but Celia carried the load. Between the lines, the author describes modern day Cuban culture in very accurate terms. Thanks to her readable style, her sociology lesson is discrete but comes through clearly. I was enthused enough to order her next book, CUBA UNSPUN.
Bob Michaels, January 10, 2013.
Rovella is a beautiful woman with a cold heart whom blames herself for an unfortunate old family secret that is literally ruining her life. This secret impedes a gorgeous woman from having happiness in her childhood, and throughout her life. Dark sec
