Suarez, Virgil

New York. 1990. July 1990. Fireside/Simon & Schuster. 1st Fireside Paperback Edition. Very Good in Wrappers. 0671705350. 290 pages. paperback. Jacket illustration by John Jinks . keywords: Literature Translated Latin America Cuba America. FROM THE PUBLISHER - On April 6, 1980, ten thousand Cubans storm through the gates of the Peruvian embassy in Miramar, Havana, seeking asylum from the Castro government. Theirs becomes a quest for freedom. Hugo Carranza, political prisoner, ex-patriot, member of the revolutionary forces in Santiago, is among those who break in. He has escaped from the work (death) camps and terrifying Cuban prisons like La Cabana and Boniato. He is also in love with a woman named Lucinda, who fought with him in Sierra Maestra and who has mysteriously disappeared. Hugo refuses to leave without her. At the time of the Peruvian embassy incident, hundreds of miles away in Los Angeles, Hugo's father, Esteban Carranza, finds himself a lonely man, disappointed with how his life has turned out. He used to have so much in the motherland; all is lost now. He is a widower who lives for the memories of his wife, Concha, and his life as a former businessman in Santiago de Cuba. The instant Esteban hears the news about the Peruvian embassy break-in, his aim becomes to do everything possible to rescue and free his son. Then there is Angel Falcon, Esteban's son-in-law, whose worries are domestic: selling ice cream from an ice-cream truck in the streets of Los Angeles, concerned about his marriage to Lilian (Esteban's (continued from front flap) daughter), about the breakup of his son's marriage, about making ends meet and paying the neverending tide of bills. It is business as usual until the day the accident occurs-a small child is run over by a car-and the possibility of a lawsuit becomes a reality. Angel's son, Diego Falcon, is the focus of Latin Jazz. He is the troubled, young, Cuban-American musician, the lover, the friend, the one who tries to make sense out of his life in the States by piecing together his past through the recollections and memories of his family. And finally, there are the women of Latin Jazz. Lilian, Angel's wife; Lucinda, Hugo's lost girlfriend; Vanessa, Diego's wife, who elopes with Diego's best friend and co-band leader; and last but most important is Concha, Esteban's wife, who died years before the story takes place and whose voice serves as a medium for the Cuban psyche. inventory #32576 ISBN: 0671705350.