Found in an envelope in Guillermo Cabrera Infante's house after his
death in 2005, Map Drawn by a Spy is the world-renowned writer's
autobiographical account of the last four months he spent in his
country.
In 1965, following his mother's death, Infante returns to Cuba from
Brussels, where he is employed as a cultural attaché at the Cuban
embassy. When a few days later his permission to return to Europe is
revoked, Infante begins a period of suspicion, uncertainty, and
disillusion. Unable to leave the country, denied access to party
officials, yet still receiving checks for his work in Belgium, Infante
discovers the reality of Cuba under Fidel Castro: imprisonment of
homosexuals, silencing of writers, the closing of libraries and
newspapers, and the consolidation of power.
Both lucid and sincere, Map Drawn by a Spy is a moving portrayal of a
fractured society and a writer's struggles to come to terms with his
national identity.