The Price of Paradise

By: Susana López Rubio, Achy Obejas - translator

Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell, Thom Rivera

In a city as corrupt as it was luxurious, those who dared to dream were bound to pay the price.

Havana, Cuba, 1947. Young Patricio flees impoverished Spain and steps into the sultry island paradise of Havana with only the clothes on his back and half-baked dreams of a better life. Blessed with good looks and natural charm, he lands a job as a runner at El Encanto - one of the most luxurious department stores in the world.

Famous for its exquisite offerings from French haute couture to Arabian silks, El Encanto indulges the senses in opulent extravagance. It caters to visiting Hollywood stars, rising politicos, and prerevolutionary Cuba’s wealthiest power players, including the notorious mobster César Valdés.

Falling in love with the mobster’s young wife, Gloria, is suicide. But Patricio is irresistibly drawn to the beautiful girl with sad eyes, a razor-sharp intellect, and a penchant for both Christian Dior’s clothes and Einstein’s theories. Within the walls of El Encanto, anything seems possible, even a love that promises to heal them and a desire that thrums with the mambo beat of the city itself.

In a reckless love affair that spans half a century, Patricio’s and Gloria’s lives entwine time and again, challenged by every twist of fate - for in a world of murder, betrayal, and revolution, those who dare to reach for paradise seldom survive unscathed.

©2017 by Susana Lopez Rubio. Translation © 2019 by Achy Obejas. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Mesmerizing

It paints the time so beautifully that you feel as if you are there... living the moments and passing the time as they are. I could not put it down and could feel their emotions. It was mesmerizing!

Wonderful Love Story

I enjoyed this book very much. I don't read many books that have been translated and wasn't sure at first how well it would translate. I think the translation was well done. I could almost smell the mariposa perfume.

Historical fiction paints a picture of Cuba

The readers did an excellent job! I enjoyed the images of a time and place in Cuba, which is new information for me. The story was not predictable, and there were many unexpected turns of events. There were some pints in the story so suspenseful, I found myself physically responding, anxious and heart pounding. A good read for some escape time from our daily lives.

Excellent book

This is not my usual genre of book, but I must say I ended up extremely pleased. The author did a very good job of painting a picture of Havana and the different times throughout the story. The characters had a lot of depth. I was able to step into their shoes and see and feel the story through them.

Havana

I did not know what to expect. The story was mesmerizing and Patricio's epilogue made me cry a little in a bittersweet crazy kind of way. The author managed to script all the best and worse of humanity. I throughly enjoyed the listen and will remember so much about it. Thank you for this charm.