In her latest book, When We Left Cuba, she revisits the Perez family, this time through the story of Elisa’s sister, Beatriz, who has fled to Palm Beach, Florida with her family. "Some of the events are quite dramatic, but are very much real struggles that people faced during these time periods, and at their heart, these books are meant to honor those struggles." "It was important to me to fictionalize the family, but also to make everything that happened in the books historically accurate and realistic," Cleeton tells Bustle. "At their heart, these books are meant to honor those struggles." Though the novel is fiction, it was built on the foundation of the experiences of Cleeton's family during the Cuban Revolution. Next Year in Havana - a New York Times bestseller and a selection for Reese Witherspoon's book club - introduced readers to the Perez family, through the story of Elisa Perez and her affair with a revolutionary in Havana in the days before Fidel Castro rose to power. It was a particularly poignant experience, as 60 years ago, he lived through the Cuban Revolution, and many of his experiences inspired that book. Author Chanel Cleeton was discussing her first book Next Year In Havanaon a panel at the Miami Book Fair when she looked out at the audience and caught sight of her grandfather in tears.
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