Cuba and the Night Book

Richard, the jaded photojournalist who is Iyer's narrator, thinks he believes in nothing. He knows that the most beautiful women cruising the Calle 21 aren't women at all. And he strongly suspects that the ravishing cubana named Lourdes is only looking for a ticket to America - just as Lourdes fears that she may be nothing more than Richard's Caribbean souvenir. Yet, almost against their will, these two people fall in love. And what ensues is a story of passion and regret that is moving, arousing, and voluptuously atmospheric. A story that could only be told by the noted travel writer Pico Iyer, it is an ironic paean to a place where everyone has two fatherlands: "Cuba and the night."

The setting is Havana. The story is a love story, one as odd and passionate as the place it's set in. Richard is an American photographer at an emotional dead end. Lourdes is a vivacious young Cuban riding on dreams. Amid a confusion of motives, they are drawn together.