Waiting on Zapote Street: Love and Loss in Castro's Cuba - Paperback

by Betty Viamontes (Author)

Havana, 1959.

The night Batista flees, a nation holds its breath. By morning, everything has changed.

What begins with hope slowly tightens into something else.

For Laura and Rio, it begins with love-a young couple building a life together in a country full of promise. But history intervenes. In 1968, Rio makes the painful decision to leave Cuba, believing the separation from his family will be temporary.

It is not.

By 1970, the doors close. Families are no longer allowed to leave.

Left behind with three small children, Laura must find a way to survive in a world where food is scarce, fear is constant, and each day demands more than she has to give. She works, sacrifices, and risks everything-traveling to the countryside, bartering in secret, doing whatever it takes to keep her children alive.

Years pass.

Years of holding on. Of enduring. Of refusing to let hope die.

Until one night, everything changes.

With her children at her side, Laura must face a choice no mother should ever have to make-one that will test the limits of her strength, her faith, and the meaning of family itself.

Based on a true story, Waiting on Zapote Street is a powerful and deeply human portrait of love, sacrifice, and the long road to freedom.

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Praise for Waiting on Zapote Street

"From its opening shocks of loss and separation to its thrilling and emotional conclusion, Waiting on Zapote Street gives us a front-row experience of a Cuban family's hardship and enduring love."
- John Henry Fleming, author and University of South Florida Creative Writing professor

"This touching narrative depicts the harrowing trials, loss and separation that hit one particular family in Cuba when Castro comes to power... The author demonstrates numerous layers of Cuban life and belief."
- Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards Judge

"We were captivated by this intimate portrayal of the impact of la revolución."
- United Nations (UN) Women Book Club of the Gulf Coast

"An inspiring immigration story of perseverance told with true sensitivity and detail."
- Kirkus Reviews

Author Biography

Betty Viamontes was born in Havana, Cuba. In 1980, at age 15, at the height of a massive Cuban exodus from the Port of Mariel in Havana, she immigrated to the United States with her mother and siblings. Betty Viamontes completed graduate studies at the University of South Florida and moved on to a successful career in Accounting. She has published several short stories, but this is her first novel. Currently, she is working on a second book. Betty Viamontes lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband and family.