Beautiful Maria of My Soul - Paperback

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by Oscar Hijuelos (Author), Lori Marie Carlson-Hijuelos (Foreword by)

In this mesmerizing sequel to a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, the "heart-stealing heroine" (Amy Tan) and muse of Cuban musician Nestor Castillo takes readers on the journey of a lifetime with this story of reinvention, romance, and revolution.

In The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, María is the great Cuban beauty who stole musician Nestor Castillo's heart and broke it, inspiring him to write the Mambo Kings' biggest hit, 'Beautiful María of My Soul.'" Now in her sixties, María García y Cifuentes is the lady behind the song, living as an exile in Miami. But while she left Cuba decades ago, she has never forgotten Nestor.

We now see the Mambo Kings' story through Maria's eyes--and as she thinks back to her days and nights in Havana, an entirely new perspective on the story unfolds. We meet her as an illiterate young woman with unspeakable, head-turning beauty who meets and falls in love with Nestor in Havana, but ultimately chooses to stay involved with a cruel, wealthy lover.

When the Cuban Revolution intervenes, Maria and her daughter seek refuge in Miami. And as she finds community with other Cuban women and begins to take lessons at a local college, Maria finally goes from muse to the writer of her own story.

Beautiful María of My Soul is a stunning act of reinvention, and another contemporary classic from an extraordinarily talented writer.

Includes a Reading Group Guide.

Author Biography

Oscar Hijuelos (1951-2013), a native New Yorker and the son of Cuban immigrants, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of nine novels and a memoir and a recipient of the Rome Prize awarded by The American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. He became the first Latino winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1990 for his international bestseller The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love and his novels have been translated into more than 40 languages.

Lori Carlson-Hijuelos is an author and educator from Jamestown, New York. She studied Spanish literature and linguistics at the College of Wooster and got her MA in Hispanic literature from Indiana University. Lori has taught at different universities, like Duke, and she's the editor of amazing books for kids and teens, such as Cool Salsa, American Eyes, Voices in First Person, and Burnt Sugar Caña Quemada. She lives in the bustling city of New York.

Number of Pages: 336

Dimensions: 1 x 7.9 x 5.2 IN

Publication Date: January 16, 2024