Touching story told from the perspective of a young Cuban boy during the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s. Dino loves his Havana, especially the architecture which he so carefully sketches. However, circumstances take him away from his beloved home. First it's a 2 year stint in Spain to help out family and then it's a permanent move to New York City to escape the encroaching regime and the changes to the country that Dino's parents won't accept.
Stories about emigration from the Caribbean never get old to me. They all have their similarities but each experience is unique. Also the Cuban experience is unlike any other from the Caribbean Diaspora. Their home is not somewhere they can return once they've left. The old Cuba is often idealized in the memory of it's past inhabitants and this book is an example of that.