Showing results by author "Betty Viamontes" in All Categories

Flight of the Tocororo is a collaboration between two Cuban-American authors who left the island in different historical periods, Susana Jiménez-Mueller in 1959 and Betty Viamontes, during the Mariel exodus in 1980. Susana was five years old and Betty, fifteen. Both went through extraordinary experiences that would have left anyone crushed. How does a girl who loses her father and sister in exile manage to collect the pieces of her shattered childhood and reach the inconceivable? How can a young woman who lived without her father for twelve years, suffered severe traumas during her ...

As the winds of revolution blow through Cuba, Laura Ocampo, a restless university student, defies her upbringing and becomes a supporter of Fidel Castro's rebels. When the hated Batista flees the country, she joins the thousands pouring into the streets to cheer as the bearded rebels, in the backs of trucks, roll into Havana in victory.

“A story that encompasses a lifetime. It is rich in imagery and sometimes light and funny, despite the seriousness of the backdrop of a Cuba still in chains.” Susana Jiménez-Mueller, international podcaster of The Green Plantain – The Cuban Series Project and author of Now I Swim. “An amazing story that spans decades. It takes readers on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows and keeps them wanting to know what's around the corner. Then, when the ride seems to end, there's one last surprise waiting.” Conchita Hernández Hicks, author of Leaving Havana. An engrossing tale, funny ...

From the author of the award-winning Waiting on Zapote Street comes a story based on true events. In 1960’s central Cuba, a young middle-class woman’s life is interrupted as she finds herself a victim in what will quickly become a hurricane of world politics and idealistic dogma. *** “Betty Viamontes’s books are not intended to be classic literature. Instead they are deliberately simple, about real people caught in an historical cataclysm. Like most holocaust memoirs, their strength lies in their simplicity. Ms. Viamontes tells a simple story of normal people, allowing the reader's ...

By the author of the award-winning book “Waiting on Zapote Street.” In 1968, a day before his sixteenth birthday, Rodolfo Hernandez’s mother forces him to leave Cuba alone to protect him from Castro’s regime. But nothing could prepare him for his encounter with his uncle Arturo in Miami, a man who seemed to care little about Rodolfo or anyone else around him, a troubled man with a secret past who would take him years to understand.

They are both on a collision course with destiny. Amelia, a single woman of faith in her mid-forties, lives with her family in the town of Remedios, located in the center of Cuba. For over twenty years, she has lived her life caring only for others and neglecting herself. In 2022, Frank leaves his home in Miami, Florida to learn about his deceased mother’s life by visiting the town of Remedios. Once in the town of his mother’s birth, he forges a friendship with Amelia, who connects him to his past, not knowing how much he will impact her life in the process. A creature of habit, Amelia ...

Since Joel Camacho was a child, he knew he didn’t want to stay in Cuba. Becoming a medical doctor turns into his ticket out. But it also propels him into an elaborate labyrinth of modern-day slavery, gangs, corruption, and international human trafficking from which he must escape. For him, there is only one haven. Trying to reach it becomes the most difficult challenge of his life.