Between Here and Gone
When Fidel Castro seized control of Cuba, the affluent Natalia San Martin fled to America with her family in the wake of personal tragedy. It’s now 1960s New York, and while Natalia has carefully hidden away her former self and changed her name to Natalie, her family is now estranged, and she’s struggling to make a living. But when she’s offered the job of ghost writing a starlet’s biography, dredging up another’s tangled past unwittingly reminds Natalie of her own, with things she’d like to forget. As truths are revealed, Natalie finds the strength to move on and love again.
Ferrer has done a fantastic job outlining the lives and sacrifices of the many families who have come to find a better life in America. I especially enjoyed the history and glimpses into Cuba, written in stark contrast to New York’s bustle. Her prose sends you on little adventures you almost hate to return from. Natalie is a likeable heroine, and easy to sympathize with. She’d like to love again, as indicated by some of her poor choices, but is tormented by her past until she finds the unlikely affection of the man who hires her to ghost write.
I had a little trouble mirroring the life of the starlet with Natalie’s past. This could be because she doesn’t make an appearance until the last third of the book, and at this point we have already learned a great deal about Natalie’s story. After Natalie finally meets her, I was disappointed to see the starlet become a sudden antagonist, her erratic behavior and final, harrowing moments pinned on an unnamed mental illness. I had to wait for the happy ending, but it comes along eventually.
