The Price of Paradise
Written by Susana López Rubio
Narrated by Cynthia Farrell and Thom Rivera
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
In a city as corrupt as it was luxurious, those who dared to dream were bound to pay the price.
Havana, Cuba, 1947. Young Patricio flees impoverished Spain and steps into the sultry island paradise of Havana with only the clothes on his back and half-baked dreams of a better life. Blessed with good looks and natural charm, he lands a job as a runner at El Encanto—one of the most luxurious department stores in the world.
Famous for its exquisite offerings from French haute couture to Arabian silks, El Encanto indulges the senses in opulent extravagance. It caters to visiting Hollywood stars, rising politicos, and prerevolutionary Cuba’s wealthiest power players, including the notorious mobster César Valdés.
Falling in love with the mobster’s young wife, Gloria, is suicide. But Patricio is irresistibly drawn to the beautiful girl with sad eyes, a razor-sharp intellect, and a penchant for both Christian Dior’s clothes and Einstein’s theories. Within the walls of El Encanto, anything seems possible, even a love that promises to heal them and a desire that thrums with the mambo beat of the city itself.
In a reckless love affair that spans half a century, Patricio’s and Gloria’s lives entwine time and again, challenged by every twist of fate—for in a world of murder, betrayal, and revolution, those who dare to reach for paradise seldom survive unscathed.
Susana López Rubio
Susana López Rubio was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1978. She is a screenwriter who wrote the popular television adaptation of the novel The Time In Between by María Dueñas. She writes short stories for adults and children. Achy Obejas is the author of The Tower of the Antilles, the critically acclaimed novels Ruins and Days of Awe, and three other books of fiction. Her poetry chapbook, This Is What Happened in Our Other Life, was both a critical favorite and a bestseller. As a translator, she has worked with Junot Díaz, Wendy Guerra, Rita Indiana, and many others. In 2014 she received the USA Ford Fellowship from USA Artists for both her writing and her translations. She’s written for, among others, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, the Village Voice, In These Times, and the Chicago Tribune, where she was part of a 2001 Pulitzer Prize–winning team. Born in Havana, she currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Related to The Price of Paradise
Related audiobooks
The Queen of the Valley Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spanish Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In a Kingdom by the Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pierced by the Sun Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Of Marriageable Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Passion According to Carmela Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Find Me in Havana: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First Mrs. Rothschild: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ten Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Train to Istanbul: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pirate's Daughter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Unkillable Kitty O'Kane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Would Be Night in Caracas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Across a Hundred Mountains: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Last Train From Cuernavaca Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Snow Gypsy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stars in His Eyes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Six Days in Leningrad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heart Has Its Reasons: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Palm Trees in the Snow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fortune's Daughters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Daughters: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost in the Spanish Quarter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Garment Maker's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ines of My Soul: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Caramelo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bird With the Heart of a Mountain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rose of Sarajevo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gold Letter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Historical Romance For You
The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Redeeming Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful Ruins: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Could Be So Good: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sisters of Alameda Street: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where the Lost Wander: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Night Like This Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Curious Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Once Upon a Wardrobe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enchanted Hill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Beekeeper's Promise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bridget Jones's Diary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Because of Miss Bridgerton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happens in London Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Duchess Deal: Girl Meets Duke Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Happened One Fight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Other Miss Bridgerton: A Bridgertons Prequel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scarlett: The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Knockout: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Light Over London Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Of None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Magic of Ordinary Days: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Queen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wuthering Heights (Seasons Edition -- Winter) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Price of Paradise
12 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I loved the book all the way to the end. Even with its exaggerations and telenovela style, I loved the descriptions and characters. But I got super disappointed by the end, as it contradicting the plot of the story, just to create more drama..
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great story of true love, danger, and a touch of history. It had the right amount of humor, charm, brutality & drama.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Think of all the cliches you can find in love stories and there you’ll find them in this novel. Plot is too convenient and contrived; characters are too love sick up to the point that you don’t want to root for them anymore because they’re ridiculous already. Havana as a setting is charming and enticing, the only saving grace of this run of the mill tale.