First-Time Author Captivates Readers in the Memoir, Leaving Glorytown

(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, April 2009)

Eduardo F. Calcines was a child of Fidel Castro’s Cuba; he was just three years old when Castro came to power in January 1959. After that, everything changed for his family and his country. When he was ten, his family applied for an exit visa to emigrate to America and he was ridiculed by his schoolmates and even his teachers for being a traitor to his country. But even worse, his father was sent to an agricultural reform camp to do hard labor as punishment for daring to want to leave Cuba. During the years to come, as he grew up in Glorytown, a neighborhood in the city of Cienfuegos, Eduardo hoped with all his might that their exit visa would be granted before he turned fifteen, the age at which he would be drafted into the army.In this absorbing memoir, by turns humorous and heartbreaking, Eduardo Calcines recounts his boyhood and chronicles the conditions that led him to wish above all else to leave behind his beloved extended family and his home for a chance at a better future.

“Calcines’ vibrant writing gives readers an intimate, front-porch view of his family . . . . will captivate readers and open a door to a subject seldom written about for teens.” —Booklist
“Calcines . . . nonetheless recalls being surrounded by loving adults who weathered adversity with a combination of strong character and unshakeable faith.” —Kirkus Reviews