The House on G Street: A Cuban Family Saga

Summary

Award-winning author Lisandro Pérez tells Cuba's story through the lens of a single family: his own. The House on G Street is a unique depiction of one of the most consequential events of the twentieth century, told through generations of ancestors whose lives were shaped by dramatic historical forces.

Pérez disentangles the complex history by following his family's thread, imbuing political events with personal meaning. Their story begins with emigration to Cuba and follows the waning years of the colony. The end of Spanish rule gives way to pervasive American influence, and Perez's family turned to New York, as they adapted to the realities of a new republic with compromised sovereignty. His family learned to navigate the uneasy relationship between the US and Cuba, a relationship that was destined to end in dramatic fashion.

More than sixty years later, the Cuban Revolution resists receding into the past, sparking continued discussion, debate, and reinterpretation. There is a great deal that is known about the broad historical conditions that inexorably pushed Cuba towards revolution, but much less is known about the people who lived that dramatic history. It is a story that, if not recovered and told, will be lost, for Pérez's ancestors lived in a world that no longer exists, swept away by a tide of revolutionary change.