Blessed by Thunder: Memoir of a Cuban Girlhood Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Blessed by Thunder: Memoir of a Cuban Girlhood Book

On the surface, this beautifully written memoir is riveting simply because it revolves around a young girl growing up in Cuba during the Communist revolution. When Flor Fernandez Barrios's parents consider fleeing Castro's regime, they are labeled gusanos, or traitors. Neighbors shame and taunt them. At the age of 10, Barrios is sent away along with thousands of other children to a work camp, where she is forced into hard labor, picking tobacco and sugar cane to offset the U.S. embargo. Barrios could have relied upon the dramatic details of her life in Cuba to make this memoir fascinating. But instead she dared to mine the depths of the cultural and spiritual story beneath the surface. Like Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, this is a tale of magic, spirits, and family devotion. Throughout her childhood, Barrios's mystical grandmothers, as well as her Afro-Cuban nanny, teach her the names and stories of their indigenous spirits, and their secret spells of healing. It is these Cuban spirits who thunder and comfort Barrios during her shameful punishments at work camp. Years later, the memories of her Cuban mentors and healing spirits help the exiled Barrios find her place in a new country. This is a highly recommended story of Cuban life, spiritual heritage, and human fortitude. --Gail HudsonRead More

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  • Product Description

    A small child when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the author grew up amid the chaotic events of the revolution and witnessed the irrevocable changes it brought to her family and community. After requesting to leave the country when the family plantation was seized and ruined, Flor and her family were taunted and labeled gusanos (worms). At 11, she was sent away to a rural work camp where she picked tobacco and sugar cane for two years. Despite daily hardships, Flor found wisdom and comfort among the older women in her family, each of whom taught her about the power of spirits and the magical ways of healing. Moving to the United States in 1970, she left them behind but carried their curanderismo -- healing wisdom -- with her.

  • 1580050212
  • 9781580050210
  • Flor Fernandez Barrios
  • 1 May 2001
  • Seal Press
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 244
  • illustrated edition
  • Illustrated
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