Candela's Secrets and Other Havana Stories

By: Betty Viamontes

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

"Prepare to be pulled by your lapels!" Amazon customer. "Compelling and immersive stories." Amazon customer.

From the author of the award-winning "Waiting on Zapote Street" and "Brothers: A Pedro Pan Story."

Candela’s Secrets and Other Havana Stories is a powerful collection that transports readers into the heart of Havana’s neighborhoods during the years of Castro’s rule—a world shaped by sacrifice, resilience, quiet desperation, and fragile hope.

The collection opens with Candela’s Secrets, the haunting story of a young married woman trapped in a loveless marriage to a man twenty years her senior. In a city where survival often demands impossible choices, Candela walks the Malecón at night, selling her body to endure a life she never imagined for herself.

Through richly drawn characters and intimate portraits of daily life, these stories reveal the strength, heartbreak, and determination of ordinary people navigating extraordinary times.

A moving tribute to the human spirit in the face of hardship, this collection captures the soul of Havana—its beauty, its sorrow, and its unbreakable will to survive.