Downtown Springfield Association

Welcome to your new favorite book club! Join the Downtown Springfield Association and the Springfield-Greene County Library District every second Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. for the Downtown Book Club.

May 2024 Pick:

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

Description

After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity–and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution…
Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba’s high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country’s growing political unrest–until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary…
Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa’s last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth. Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba’s tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she’ll need the lessons of her grandmother’s past to help her understand the true meaning of courage.

Content Warnings:

  • Parental abandonment
  • Death of a grandmother
  • Murder
  • Imprisonment
  • Kidnapping
  • War themes

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Previous Reads

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

One Two Three by Laurie Frankel

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

Homegoing by Yaa Gysai

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood

Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xóchitl González

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow

Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest

Need a copy of this month’s book?

Visit the Park Central Branch of the Springfield-Greene County Library District to grab a copy! Put your request in now, because it may take about a week to get your copy.