“But then again, what is certain in this world? Governments change, regimes fall, alliances shift. With so much that lies out of our hands, it seems like love is the easiest and only thing worth trusting.” Trust Book:Next Year in Havana Source: Next Year in Havana
“We are silk and lace, and beneath them we are steel.” StrongWomenStrengthWoman Book:Next Year in Havana Source: Next Year in Havana
“I told myself being a Perez meant more than being Cuban, that my responsibility to my family, to do what was expected, to be the woman my parents wanted me to be meant more than fighting for what I believed in, for speaking out against Batista's tyranny. And the whole time we were pretending our way of life was fine, the "paradise" we'd created was really a fragile deal with a mercurial devil, and the ground beneath us shifted and cracked, destroying the world as we knew it. Fidel has shown us the cost of our silence. The danger of waiting too long to speak, of another's voice being louder than ours because we were too busy living in the bubbles we'd created to realize the rest of Cuba had changed and left us behind.” SilenceBeliefsSpeaking Out Book:Next Year in Havana Source: Next Year in Havana
“To be in exile is to have the things you love most in the world - the air you breathe, the earth you walk upon - taken from you. They exist on the other side of a wall - there and not - unaltered by time and circumstance, preserved in a perfect memory in a land of dreams.” HomeMemoriesExile Book:Next Year in Havana Source: Next Year in Havana
“That's the thing with grief--you never know when it will sneak up on you.” LossGrief Book:Next Year in Havana Source: Next Year in Havana
“The thing about people telling you you're beautiful your whole life, is the more that you hear it, the more meaningless it becomes. What does beautiful even mean, anyway? That your features are arranged in a shape someone, somewhere arbitrarily decided is pleasing? Beautiful never quite matches up to the other things you could be, smart, interesting, brave.” BeautifulMeaninglessArbitraryWhat Is Beautiful Book:When We Left Cuba Source: When We Left Cuba
“There was something about books that brought people together, a passion, a devotion that created an intimate bond and understanding. After all, books spoke to the deepest parts of the soul and so they linked readers in unforgettable ways. Sharing a favorite book was like creating a shared history between people who had navigated the life and world that existed within the novel’s pages.” Books Book:The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes Source: The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes
“I've always loved to read, probably for the same reason I dreamed of adventure. There is freedom and excitement in slipping on other personas, in pretending to be someone you're not.” Reading Book:The Cuban Heiress Source: The Cuban Heiress
“I like to think of the houses I build as having their own personalities. Oh, there's the people who are their custodians to consider, of course, a symbiosis in the relationship between the house and its owner, but sometimes these grand estates have a way of forcing their residents to their will, of bending and shaping the trajectory of their lives. After all, when our bones turn to dust, these wall will still stand.” EstatesOld HousesGrand Home Book:The House on Biscayne Bay Source: The House on Biscayne Bay