The Price of Paradise

By: Susana López Rubio, Achy Obejas - translator

Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell, Thom Rivera

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Loved this!

love the reading of this book... you could tell who the characters were immediately! such a great story I wanted to hear the audible to hear how the names and places were pronounced you will not be disappointed!

It's okay

I love stories about Cuba and this was a decent story, but it fell apart for me toward the end. I was overall disappointed and don't anticipate reading it ever again.

The man narrator was great, I really liked his parts, but the woman was subpar. She did a weird thing with her mouth, almost like she had a cough drop in her mouth or something. It wasn't *too* distracting, but it was moderately annoying.

Loved the two narrators!

Both narrators made this unique story come to life. Well done! Highly recommend it to both Romance and Cuban history buffs. 💙

Loved

Very well written. I became so wrapped up into the story line wanting to know what happens next with each character and was sad that the story had to end.

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.

Love 💘Lasts a Lifetime

Intriguing story of two people who fall in love but can only be together in stolen moments. Interwoven is a smattering of the history of Cuba, its' days of grandeur and fall into communism.

Endless love

All those who do not know the real Cuba of 1940, 1950, 1960, and beyond can listen to this story and know that love of heart and home last forever. An island so exciting, glamorous, and mystical it's still referred to and remembered as paradise.