Mangos, Bananas and Coconuts - Softcover

Novas, Himilce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1573226130 ISBN 13: 9781573226134

Publisher: Riverhead Trade, 1997

Synopsis

A first novel explores the bittersweet relationship between a Caribbean Tristan and Isolde, challenging notions of good and evil and revealing the pain of isolation regardless of whether it is Cuban, Latin, or human. Reprint.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

A poor ignorant campesino on a large Cuban plantation becomes innocently embroiled in revolution and an earth-shaking, although brief, affair with his patron's daughter. He escapes persecution with his newborn daughter just before the cataclysm befalls Cuban society. Unknown to father and daughter, a twin brother was born shortly after their escape. Juan grows up pampered and spoiled in the lap of luxury among the wealthiest class of Cubans in Miami, but nevertheless senses that something fundamental is missing in his life of splendors. The beautiful, humble Esmeralda grows up in Spanish Harlem as the daughter of a fundamentalist preacher who honors his deceased wife by abusing the unwitting girl, who resembles her so. Widely seen to have inherited her father's mysticism, Esmeralda becomes the pride and wonder of El Barrio. Then, one day, a handsome young man is drawn to her church, to her life, to her love. All of the spirits, the muses, nature itself, have conspired to bring together the now inseparable pair. Neither the violence of her libidinous father nor the financial resources of Juan's parents can tear the two asunder in this marvelous satire of magic realism and the literature of exile and immigration.

About the Author:

Novas is the author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction. Her fiction works include Mangos, Bananas and Coconuts: A Cuban Love Story (Arte Público Press, 1996; Riverhead/Penguin, 1997 paperback) and Princess Papaya (Arte Publico Press, 2005). Among her works of non-fiction are the popular Everything You Need to Know About Latino History (Plume/Penguin 1994;1997;2003); Latin American Cooking Across the USA (Knopf, 1997); La Buena Mesa (Knopf, 1997); Latino Art and Culture in the United States (The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1996); Everything You Need to Know about Asian American History (Plume/Penguin, 1996; 2003 ); The Hispanic 100: A Ranking of the Latino Men and Women Who Have Most Influenced American Thought and Culture (Citadel Press, 1995); Remembering Selena: A Tribute in Pictures and Words / Recordando a Selena: Un tributo en palabras y fotos (St. Martin's Press, 1995).

Himilce Novas has taught literature and writing as visiting author at vatious colleges and universities, among them the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), Wellesley College and Tulane University and continues to speak on Latino history and culture at colleges across the country. She spans both coasts and currently resides in the West.

About this edition

• Publisher: Riverhead Trade
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1573226130
• ISBN 13: 9781573226134
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 159