Telex from Cuba cover art

Telex from Cuba

A Novel

 Preview

Audible Standard 1-month free trial

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo + applicable tax after 30-day trial. Cancel Anytime
Try for $0.00
Compare plans

Telex from Cuba

Written by: Rachel Kushner
Narrated by: Lloyd James
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $29.74

Buy Now for $29.74

A National Book Award Finalist for Fiction

The debut novel by New York Times bestselling author Rachel Kushner, called “shimmering” (The New Yorker), “multilayered and absorbing” (The New York Times Book Review), and “gorgeously written” (Kirkus Reviews).

Young Everly Lederer and K.C. Stites come of age in pre-revolutionary Cuba, where the American expatriates tend their own fiefdom—three hundred thousand acres of United Fruit Company sugarcane that surround their gated enclave under the shadow of the Batista dictatorship. If the rural tropics are a child's dreamworld, Everly and K.C. nevertheless have keen eyes for the indulgences and betrayals of the grown-ups around them—the mordant drinking and illicit loves, the race hierarchies and violence.

In Havana, a thousand kilometers and a world away from the American colony, a cabaret dancer meets a French agitator named Christian de La Mazière, whose seductive demeanor can’t mask his shameful past. Together they become enmeshed in the brewing revolutionary underground and the political upheaval that will soon transform the island. When Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro lead a revolt from the mountains above the cane plantation, torching the sugar and kidnapping a boat full of "yanqui" revelers, K.C. and Everly begin to discover the brutality that keeps the colony and its corporate imperialism humming. Though their parents remain blissfully untouched by the forces of history, the children hear the whispers of what is to come.

Kushner’s first novel is a tour de force, haunting and compelling, with the urgency of a telex from a forgotten time and place. Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Latin America
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most Relevant
This book is about Cuba during Fidel Castro’s rise to power. The story is told through the eyes of American expats working for the United Fruit Company, the bad guys of Latin American history in the 20th Century. Rachel Kushner is a superb writer and, for me, this is her finest work. There are no heroes in this book. While the Fruit Company is the bad guy, there are plenty of corrupt people of all stripes. This book has a dreamy quality with shifting viewpoints as the revolution reaches it’s apex. Kushner’s tough and sassy way with words make this a special book. The narration is spot on as well.

1950’s Cuba

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.