Cuba Beyond the Beach

Stories of Life in Havana

By: Karen Dubinsky

Narrated by: Gina Clayton

Havana is Cuba's soul: a mix of Third World, First World, and Other World. After over a decade of visits as a teacher, researcher, and friend, Karen Dubinsky looks past political slogans and tourist postcards to the streets, neighborhoods, and personalities of a complicated and contradictory city. Her affectionate, humorous vignettes illustrate how Havana's residents - old communist ladies, their skeptical offspring, musicians, underground vendors, entrepreneurial landlords, and poverty-stricken professors - go about their daily lives.

As Cuba undergoes dramatic change, there is much to appreciate and learn from in the unlikely world Cubans have collectively built for themselves.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Queen's University Student Overseas Travel Fund - The Sonia Enjamio Fund, which funds Cuban/Canadian student exchange.

©2016 Karen Dubinsky (P)2017 Between the Lines

Critic reviews

"This is an intimate portrait of Havana, enriched by Dubinsky's personal anecdotes and stories of her Cuban friends. It chronicles the resourcefulness and resilience of the Cuban people and will appeal broadly to anyone traveling to Cuba or readers who just want to be transported there." ( Publishers Weekly)

Wonderful, loving, but balanced depiction of modern-day Cubs

This book was just what I needed prior to my first visit to Cuba, a beautifully written, respectful but honest description of Cuba and the Cuban people. Lovely!