I learned so much about the Cuban Revolution and what it was like for those people who stayed in Cuba and for those who managed to get out. It opened my heart and my understanding for what it was like in the past, what it is like now, and how someone can be duped by a charismatic politician and then trapped by the mayhem and chaos that ensues. The writing was excellent, and I now follow Ana Hebra Flaster on Substack because she writes regularly about what is happening now in Cuba.
“. . . filled with wisdom, history, joy . . . I wanted to sit with the viejos and all the love and chaos in their multi-generational home and hold on to Abuela and her stories forever.”—Marjan Kamali, USA Today best-selling author of The Lion Women of Tehran and The Stationery Shop
In this sweeping, historical, yet intimate memoir, the author details her family’s transformation from pro-Castro revolutionaries in a scrappy Havana barrio to refugees in a New Hampshire mill town—a timeless and timely tale of loss and reinvention.
Ana Hebra Flaster was six years old when her working-class…
I really enjoyed the characters and how the plot unfolded. The dialogue and relationships between the characters were fun and engaging. It is one of those stories where I marvel at the skill of the writer for their beautiful plot and way of describing things.
Fiction. Walter Farnham is on a mission. Only he doesn't know it. Living above the garage of his former wife and her new husband, Walt has never been one to finish things, not even a divorce. In fact, the closest he's come to a steady anything is as caretaker for Hardwick, the grand old family home of the heiress, Miss June Bonwell Creighton. Although Miss June is a stern mistress, Walt responds to her demands with good-natured indulgence. It was Miss June, after all, who took the motherless boy under her wing so many years ago. But now, well into…
As a parent of two children with medical situations, and as a writer attempting to share the experiences of my daughters, I found this book to be the most gorgeous, fun, and enjoyable work of heart from a mother/daughter team. Although it dealt with a heavy and difficult experience, the book felt light and fun too, which is an impressive balance to achieve.
Includes 8 pages of full colour photos, in print for the first time!
When she was just a tiny baby, something terrible happened to Lexi. It left her with an out-of-control body and without a voice. Now, as a precocious, superhero-obsessed thirteen-year-old, Lexi is counting down the final 24 hours to a risky brain surgery that might help her talk or-dare she dream it?-to walk and use her hands.
As surgery grows closer, Lexi finds an urgent, relentless need to share the story of the year in her life she calls The Year of the Buttered Cat. That year, on…
Families who have supported a child with special needs will connect with this memoir about Sarah, a feisty girl with autism and a unique genetic blueprint. Her mom, Jenny, is equally feisty and determined, which leads her to make a commitment that dramatically changes her and Sarah's lives - as well as those of many others. Sarah's early years are filled with challenges, and Jenny and her husband, Carl, try various therapies in an effort to help her. At four years old, Sarah is still nonverbal, still doesn't use the potty, and still struggles with eating. Jenny knows she must do more. She has heard of a method developed by the Autism Treatment Center of America called The Son-Rise Program, which, through loving, supportive interaction, aims to foster social connection in people with autism. It is a huge undertaking, requiring hours of one-on-one therapeutic playtime, which means Jenny needs to find and train volunteers to make it possible. Though Jenny isn't sure she can do it, she decides to try. She calls her program Sarah-Rise. Accompany Jenny as Sarah's language explodes, her eye contact intensifies, and she plays games, plays imaginatively, uses the potty, eats healthily, reads, and writes. Have your heart warmed and your socks knocked off by this momentous journey.
