My top 10 books about Cuba by Leila Segal

21 January 2016

Leila Segal's debut collection of short stories, Breathe (£6.99, Flipped Eye) is out now.

Leila Segal

1. Afro-Cuban Tales

Lydia Cabrera

This magical collection takes you to the roots of Cuban soul - part Spanish, part African: the culture of Afro-Cuba. Cabrera leads us into a sensual world where natural and supernatural interact - one where 'The fish drank from flowers and the birds built their nests on the crests of the waves.' I am in love with the poetry of these stories.

2. Ophelias

Aida Bahr

Eight compelling stories, each with a woman at its centre. Aida Bahr is one of Cuba's leading contemporary writers; she does not shy away from difficult issues - racism, domestic violence, and how clandestine flight from Cuba to the US twists family life. From Holguin, in the island's East, Bahr writes of another Cuba, far from the Havana that non-Cuban readers may be more familiar with.

3. Havana Blue

Leonardo Padura

A page-turner, with earthy, rhythmic prose that's like standing on a Havana street. Police detective Mario Conde has never got over Tamara, his crush from school, who is now married to Conde's old rival, the well-to-do business manager Rafael. Rafael has disappeared, and Conde must find him - whilst trying to resist the luscious Tamara's charms. Favourite line: 'her buttocks were as hard as hunger at 5am.'

4. Cecilia Valdés or El Angel Hill

Cirilo Villaverde

A romantic, and disturbing, love story that transports you back to 19th-century Cuba, when the island was a Spanish colony, and slavery still existed. Leonardo, son of a Spanish slave trader, loves beautiful mulatta Cecilia. They don't know it, but are children of the same father. After Cecilia becomes pregnant, Leonardo abandons her to marry an upper-class white woman - and Cecilia takes revenge. Essential for understanding the effects of slavery and colonialism on Cuban society.

5. Before Night Falls

Reinaldo Arenas

Cuban dissident Arenas wrote this memoir from New York as he was dying of Aids. He takes us from his early pro-revolutionary years, through to his imprisonment and ultimate defection. A window into early post-revolutionary Cuba, and a first-hand account of some of its finest writers, whom Arenas knew. Stark and moving, an insight into the mind of a man who wrote to survive.

6. Cuba - land of spirit

James Sparshatt

These photographs are suffused with passion, beauty and joy - all of which Cuba lavishes on its visitors in abundance. In Cuba I felt that I had reached the heart of life - this book takes me back there.

7. Did You Hear About the Fighting Cat?

Omar Pérez

The rhythms of Cuban music and dance inform the work of Omar Pérez, a poet living in Havana, and the son of Che Guevara. Pérez is a Zen Buddhist monk, and his minutely observed poetry speaks of being in the timeless present. Exquisite words - read the parallel Spanish text to get the true beat.

8. The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemmingway

An old Cuban fisherman, who has caught nothing for 84 days, battles a huge marlin as it drags him further and further out to sea. Weak and alone, the old man must find the strength and courage to survive. The sea - 'la mar' as Cubans call it affectionately - was one of the strongest influences on my writing whilst in Cuba. Hemingway lived in Havana, and its life-giving or life-denying sea flows through this gorgeous, touching tale.

9. Cuba: Talking about Revolution

Medea Benjamin

A wide-ranging interview with Juan Antonio Blanco, former analyst with the Cuban Communist Party and founder of a Havana NGO devoted to the study of ethics and politics. Blanco, who says he is a 'radical' rather than a 'reformist', discusses (among other things) stages of the revolution, the Special Period, dissent, the one-party system, relations with the US and the future of socialism. A fascinating insight into life and politics on the island.

10. Moon Cuba

Christopher P. Baker

I've used this guidebook in its various editions since my first visit to Cuba in 2000. Readable and well researched - you get the feeling he's been to every paladar and casa particular he recommends. It's as if a good friend is giving you tips. Baker has been travelling to the island for 30 years and written six books about it. Authoritative, detailed and easy to use.

About the author: Leila Segal was born in London, of Polish, Lithuanian and Romanian descent. When she was little, she started to write. In 2000 she visited Cuba - as soon as she arrived she knew that she wanted to stay. She lived first in Havana, then the rural far West. Breathe - Stories from Cuba is her debut collection, written during this time. Find out more at www.leilasegal.com