The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes by Chanel Cleeton

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 My thoughts

Another excellent book by Chanel Cleeton. I loved her last book, The House on Biscayne Bay, very much. I look forward to more by this author. 

A book about a book. What could be better? Not much. This one is told in three timelines by three women. They are very different and at the same time so alike. How this book touches each woman is woven perfectly into this story. From start to finish I was captured. 

It starts out in London the year 2024. Margo is a very ambitious young lady who finds lost items for people. In this case it's a book. She is hired to find a book titled A TIME FOR FORGETTING by Eva Fuentes. 

Then we go to Havana in the year 1966. Pilar just lost her husband to the horrors of Cuba's leader Fidel Castro. He was taken into custody by the secret police. Her neighbor was getting out of Cuba but had a book that she wanted Pilar to take to it's author. The book was A TIME FOR FORGETTING.... Eva read the book several times. And she does go in search for Eva Fuentes to return this book.

Eva Fuentes lives in Havana. In 1900 she is a teacher who goes to the US to Harvard to study. While there Eva meets a man and falls hopelessly in love. Of course there is a man right... Things don't quite go as planned with him. Once she returns to Cuba she finds herself in trouble. Eva returns to the US and when she can't work things out with James she starts writing a book. A TIME FOR FORGETTING.

This book was so touching. Kept me wanting more and I hated for it to end. There are a lot of emotions in this book. A big mystery too. A little bit of a thriller in places too. A very well written book that kept me turning the pages. 

Be sure and read the Author's Notes at the end. A bit of good info there. An excellent book that I think anyone who loves a good historical will appreciate. 

Thank you @Berkley for this ARC.

4.5 stars 

About

London, 2024: American expat Margo Reynolds is renowned for her talent at sourcing rare antiques for her clients, but she’s never had a request quite like this one. She’s been hired to find a mysterious book published over a century ago. With a single copy left in existence, it has a storied past shrouded in secrecy—and her client isn’t the only person determined to procure it at any cost.

Havana, 1966: Librarian Pilar Castillo has devoted her life to books, and in the chaotic days

following her husband’s unjust imprisonment by Fidel Castro, reading is her only source of solace. So when a neighbor fleeing Cuba asks her to return a valuable book to its rightful owner, Pilar will risk everything to protect the literary work entrusted to her care. It’s a dangerous mission that reveals to her the power of one book to change a life.

Boston, 1900: For Cuban school teacher and aspiring author Eva Fuentes, traveling from Havana to Harvard to study for the summer is the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s a whirlwind adventure that leaves her little time to write, but a moonlit encounter with an enigmatic stranger changes everything. The story that pours out of her is one of forbidden love, secrets, and lies… and though Eva cannot yet see it, the book will be a danger and salvation for the lives it touches.