Candela's Secrets and Other Havana Stories - Paperback

by Betty Viamontes (Author)

"Prepare to be pulled by your lapels!" Amazon customer. "Compelling and immersive stories." Amazon customer.

Candela's Secrets and Other Havana Stories is a powerful collection that transports readers into the heart of Havana's neighborhoods during the years of Castro's rule-a world shaped by sacrifice, resilience, quiet desperation, and fragile hope.

The collection opens with Candela's Secrets, the haunting story of a young married woman trapped in a loveless marriage to a man twenty years her senior. In a city where survival often demands impossible choices, Candela walks the Malecón at night, selling her body to endure a life she never imagined for herself.

Through richly drawn characters and intimate portraits of daily life, these stories reveal the strength, heartbreak, and determination of ordinary people navigating extraordinary times.

A moving tribute to the human spirit in the face of hardship, this collection captures the soul of Havana-its beauty, its sorrow, and its unbreakable will to survive.

Author Biography

Betty Viamontes, author of the highly rated autobiographical novel Waiting on Zapote Street, was born in Havana, Cuba. Her work is known for its honesty and its ability to keep readers engaged from the moment they start to read. Betty, her siblings, and her mother migrated to the United States from Cuba in 1980, when Betty was fifteen years old. They left Havana on a shrimp boat on a stormy night, when many men, women, and children lost their lives, traveling on overloaded vessels similar to theirs. Upon her arrival to the United States, Betty had to master the English language and become acclimated to a new culture. Betty completed graduate studies in Business and Accounting, as well as a Graduate Certificate Creative Writing, at the University of South Florida, and moved on to a successful career in Accounting. Her creative works have appeared on various literary journals and newspapers. In 2015, as a tribute to her mother, who passed away in 2011, and to fulfill her last wishes, Betty Viamontes published a memoir-style novel, based on her family's life in Cuba, entitled Waiting on Zapote Street. This novel was selected by a United Nations book club for its February 2016 reading and received excellent reviews. Betty enjoys giving back to her community. She is a regular speaker at the University of South Florida and other professional organizations, and is active at the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, where she is currently the Chair of the FICPA Healthcare Conference. She derives her passion from her mother who was a teacher for many years and instilled in her the importance of an education, perseverance, and hard work.