Next Year in Havana is a novel by Chanel Cleeton, a Cuban-American writer of contemporary romance and historical fiction. The book was the July 2018 selection for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club and a New York Times bestseller. The novel alternates between 2017, when Cuban-American writer Marisol Ferrera goes to Cuba to scatter the ashes of her grandmother Elisa (Perez) Ferrera, and 1958-1959, when Elisa falls in love with a revolutionary. This guide is based on the 2018 Penguin Random House print edition.

Plot Summary

In 1959, Elisa, the 19-year-old daughter of sugar barons in Cuba, waits in a Havana airport for a flight to the United States. Elisa is there with her father, three sisters, and mother. Elisa has a secret—she is pregnant with the child of Pablo Garcia, a rebel who is on the side of Fidel Castro, whose forces have at last forced dictator Fulgencio Batista out of the country. Elisa’s path to exile in Miami began one night in 1958 after she went to a party and met Pablo. They began a whirlwind romance.

Six months after Elisa’s death in 2017, Marisol—Elisa’s granddaughter and a journalist who writes travel pieces—makes the pilgrimage to Cuba to bury her grandmother’s ashes. In her will, Elisa merely tells Marisol that she will figure out where the ashes belong. Marisol grew up hearing stories about the decadent Cuba where the Perezes lived before the revolution, so she is excited. Cuba is still ruled by an oppressive regime, so Marisol is also scared to return. Once in Cuba, Marisol meets Luis Rodriguez, the grandson of Ana Rodriguez, the best friend whom Elisa left behind. Luis is a history professor and a secret dissident who writes a political blog that is critical of Cuba. Ana runs an in-house restaurant (paladar) in what was once the family’s mansion.

Marisol’s search for a site for her grandmother’s ashes gains new direction when Ana gives her a box that contains letters between Pablo and Elisa from 1958, a beautiful ring, and some sentimental items whose meanings only become clear as Marisol reads the letters: After meeting Pablo at the party in 1958, Elisa is so drawn to Pablo that she begins meeting him in secret and exchanging letters with him. Their relationship eventually culminates in lovemaking just before Pablo leaves to join the rebels far away in the Sierra Maestra Mountains. When the rebels win a decisive battle, Batista flees, leaving the elites like the Perez family exposed. Elisa receives word that Pablo died in battle. Emilio Perez, Elisa’s father, is arrested once the rebels take Havana, and they eventually execute Alejandro Perez, Elisa’s brother. The family finally leaves Cuba. Before she leaves, Elisa buries the box of letters with the help of Ana.

In 2017, Marisol falls in love with Luis. Their combined efforts to track down news of Pablo’s fate bring the pair to the attention of the authorities. Luis is arrested for his work on the blog, and Marisol is also snatched from the streets. Marisol’s captor is no captor at all—it is Pablo. Pablo turns out to have survived after all and is now a person of some influence in Cuba. He manages to free Luis and uses his pull to help Luis and Marisol leave the country. Marisol gives Elisa’s ashes to Pablo so that he can scatter them on the seaside where the two once wandered. Using her family’s wealth, Marisol transports Luis to the United States, where the pair begins work on a series of articles to tell the world about what is happening in modern Cuba.