Summary

Whether you believe in fate, the stars, or divine intervention, you can always count on one thing—life will throw you a wicked curveball or two. Billy Bryan has seen his share.

It is 1947, and Bryan is playing winter ball in Cuba for the Washington Senators, immersing himself in the decadent nightlife of Havana, and dreaming of someday making it to the majors. But his future on the diamond is as uncertain as Cuba itself, a country where rumblings of revolution hang in the air like a high fly ball to the left. Then, one fateful night, Bryan witnesses a young student radical named Fidel unleash an amazing curveball. So begins Billy's tug-of-war with destiny—to win the heart of the woman he loves, score a victory in the game he worships, and find his way in a world racing toward revolution.

Editorial Reviews

“Engrossing…Wendel’s characters are complex and passionate. The unfolding of their lives is fascinating.” —Washington Post

“Irresistible…Castro’s Curveball has all the excitement of a tie-breaking home run.” —Baltimore Sun

“In a touch of iconoclastic ingenuity, Wendel builds on evidence of the youthful Fidel Castro’s athletic prowess and pitching ability to construct an outstanding sports novel that also closely observes Cuban society and politics…Wendel’s knowledge of baseball—the jargon, the players—enlivens the novel with some of the best game-action sequences in fiction…his portrait of Cuba is multifaceted and intriguing.” —Publishers Weekly

“Wendel’s lustrous prose and imaginative storytelling paint a vivid portrait of a life not just lived, but inhaled against a backdrop of a nation mad for baseball and not far from political and social upheaval.” —Amazon.com Review

“Amazingly, the author has managed to interest yours truly, a sportsaphobe, not only in his characters, but in the game. Narrator [Gardner]…keeps the plot moving without a hitch.” —Audiofile

“Sportswriter Wendel uses the rumors of Castro’s flirtation with a baseball career to produce a beguiling mix of thriller and love story…Wendel makes the most of his premise while soaking plenty of atmosphere out of his prerevolutionary Havana setting. He gets the baseball right, too, capturing the Bull Durham-like camaraderie of has-beens and wanna-bes struggling to keep their dreams alive—and stay out of the way of those whose dreams are bigger and much more dangerous.” —Booklist

“A superbly crafted meditation on heroism, duty, and the irony derived from recognizing everyone’s imperfections but your own.” —Kirkus Reviews

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Author Bio: Tim Wendel

Tim Wendel is an award-winning writer whose articles and columns have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today. He teaches writing at Johns Hopkins University and is the author of The New Face of Baseball: The One-Hundred-Year Rise and Triumph of Latinos in America’s Favorite Sport.

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Details

Format:	Retail CD	Format:	Library CD
Available Formats :	Retail CD, Library CD
Category:	Fiction
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing	Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
CDs:	7	CDs:	7
Runtime:	7.87
ISBN:	9781441755605	ISBN:	9780786199389
Audience:	Adult
Language:	English

Castro’s Curveball

Summary

Summary

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Reviews