I really adore Chanel Cleeton’s writing and this story just may be my favorite yet. The weaving of three women’s stories in the late 1800’s surrounding the Cuban War for Independence from the Spanish imparted so much history in a readable format.
Two of the women, Evangelina and Mariana are living in Cuba and have run afoul of the Spanish. Mariana is living in a reconcentration camp under terrible conditions while her husband fights in the war and she acts as an illegal messenger. One message she carries is about the imprisonment of Evangelina who garners the attention of William Hearst, the famous American newspaperman. Evangelina becomes a piece of propaganda to help stir American sentiment into supporting the Cuban side of the war. The third woman, Grace, is trying to make her name as a female journalist and is assigned to helping formulate a plan to get Evangelina out of prison and tell her story.
I love when a true story is novelized and gives us insight into a historical event we may not have known much about. Cleeton humanizes the struggle for freedom in Cuba while exposing the cutthroat business of the news. She also underlines the importance of these strong women in impossible situations who were essential to history playing out the way it did. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What’s the most recent historical fiction read that taught you something about history you hadn’t known before?
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