The stories gathered in this anthology reflect the many complex
challenges Havana's citizens have had to endure as a result of their
country's political isolation--from the hardships of the "Special
Period," to the pitfalls of Cuba's schizophrenic currency system, to the
indignities of becoming a cheap tourist destination for well-heeled
Westerners. Moving through various moments in its recent history, as
well as through different neighbourhoods--from the prefab, Soviet-era
maze of Alamar, to the bars and nightclubs of the Malecón and
Vedado--these stories also demonstrate the defiance of Havana: surviving
decades of economic disappointment with a flair for the comic, the
surreal and the fantastical that remains as fresh as the first dreams of
revolution.