One brilliant flame : a novel / Joy Castro.

Title :

One brilliant flame : a novel

Author:

Format:

Books

Summary:

Key West, 1886. The booming cigar industry makes it the most prosperous city in Florida. As a rebel base for the anticolonial insurgency in Cuba, it's also a tinderbox for six young friends with ambitious dreams. They all brim with secrets: Zenaida, the daughter of an assassinated Havana journalist; power-hungry Sofia, who plots a fast track to success; Chaveta, Zenaida's loyal comrade in arms who fearlessly flouts tradition; Feliciano, a charismatic Spanish anarchist; Libano, the cafetero, silent and watchful; and Maceo, a daring guerrilla soldier who fights a brutal undertow. As lives intertwine, revolution smolders, and passions ignite, the bustling coral island is set to explode.

Language:

English

ISBN - ISSN:

9781542038041

1542038049

Physical Description:

334 pages ; 21 cm

Subject:

Cigar industry -- Florida -- Fiction.

Anti-imperialist movements -- Fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Cubans -- Florida -- Fiction.

Key West (Fla.) -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.

Historical fiction.

Novels.

First Title value, for Searching:

One brilliant flame : a novel / Joy Castro.

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Library	Audience	Home Location	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Central	Adult	Fiction	Book	CASTR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Kendall	Adult	Fiction	Book	CASTR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... McGovern-Stella Link	Adult	Fiction	Book	CASTR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Robinson-Westchase	Adult	Fiction	Book	CASTR	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A nineteenth-century utopia becomes a powder keg of political intrigue and betrayal in an enthralling historical novel--inspired by actual events--by the author of Flight Risk .

They all brim with secrets: Zenaida, the daughter of an assassinated Havana journalist; power-hungry Sofia, who plots a fast track to success; Chaveta, Zenaida's loyal comrade in arms who fearlessly flouts tradition; Feliciano, a charismatic Spanish anarchist; Líbano, the cafetero, silent and watchful; and Maceo, a daring guerrilla soldier who fights a brutal undertow. As lives intertwine, revolution smolders, and passions ignite, the bustling coral island is set to explode.

Against the backdrop of the Great Fire of Key West, One Brilliant Flame explores the luminous fates of consuming passion and encroaching peril in the face of insurrection, sacrifice, and inextinguishable hope.

Reviews (1)

Booklist Review

In this historical novel set in Key West, Castro (Flight Risk, 2021) uses the diaries of her great-grandfather to recreate a slice of little-known history. In the 1880s, Key West was the lively center of Cuban life and culture in the U.S. Everything depended on the cigar industry. The factory owners, the workers, the lectors that read to them while they worked, and the community were focused on cigars--and politics. Spain was in control of Cuba, with slavery so recent that some of characters carry the whip scars on their backs as well as their psyches. The characters all speak for themselves, with three young women, unlikely friends, at the center, one the daughter of the factory owner, one an outspoken worker in the factory, one the daughter of the keeper of a boarding house. Racism, sexism, and classism rule the day, with an undercurrent of intrigue. When a fire destroys the factory and much of the area, life changes forever. This is a fascinating, informative, and important read, and it should be in all fiction collections.