Escape from Castro's Cuba

Name: Escape from Castro's Cuba
Brand: Findaway Voices
Availability: InStock
Author: Tim Wendel
ISBN: 9781664929432

Author: Tim Wendel

Narrator: Tim Wendel

Unabridged: 7 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Nebraska Press

Published: 02/26/2021

Categories: Fiction, Sports, Action & Adventure

Synopsis

In this visionary sequel to Castro’s Curveball, the former Washington Senators Minor League catcher has returned to Havana with a small role in a movie being filmed on location. Billy Bryan soon realizes that this place and his past remain as star-crossed as when he played winter ball in the Cuban capital decades before.Against his better judgment, Billy becomes entangled in a scheme to spirit a top baseball prospect off the island. This pits him against his old friend Fidel Castro. Despite being in his final days, the dictator remains a dangerous adversary, as does the Cuban sports machine and the Mexican crime syndicates that now direct baseball talent toward the U.S. Major Leagues.In Escape from Castro’s Cuba, Billy must once again navigate the crosscurrents of the so-called City of Columns: a place where the sunsets from the Hotel Nacional along the Malecón breakwater are as beautiful as ever, but where the alleyways in Old Havana still fan out, crooked and broken, like an old catcher’s fingers.

About Tim Wendel

Tim Wendel is writer-in-residence at Johns Hopkins University. His nonfiction books include Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball, and America, Forever and High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time. His fiction includes Castro’s Curveball. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic Traveler, USA Weekend, GQ, and Esquire.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kristie on January 30, 2021

"When it comes to Cuba, there are always surprises. Nothing goes as planned." It's 2016, and Billy Bryan has returned to Cuba. Billy's playing days are far in the past, but his role in a movie has brought him back to the baseball diamonds of the country that is what a friend calls on of Billy's angel......more

Goodreads review by Dave on May 18, 2021

I read mostly nonfiction (including a lot of baseball books), but this book shows what can be done in fiction that cannot be as easily in nonfiction. Tim weaves a fascinating tale that takes a lot of twists and turns that I did not expect but the surprises made the story a gripping one. Without givi......more

Goodreads review by Doug on March 09, 2021

Good fiction transports you and Tim Wendel sure does that in Escape from Castro's Cuba. Even if you haven't read Castro's Cuba, which introduced the world to Billy Bryan, the reader feels like they haven't missed a thing. The scene used to launch the story is the book's first surprise, and they keep......more

Goodreads review by Burt on August 25, 2021

A really good yarn, with some provocative plot twists, interesting characters, strong dialogue. Makes me want to see Old Havana.......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on May 17, 2022

Wendel knows Cuba and knows baseball. The plot was clever and takes on a timely issue that gets little attention. Great read!......more