One of Latin America's greatest historical novels deals with the impact of the French Revolution on the Caribbean
When he arrives in Cuba at the close of the eighteenth century, Victor Hugues, a merchant sailor from Marseille brings with him not only the idealism of the French Revolution but also its ambition and desire for bloodshed. Landing at the Havana doorstep of three wealthy Creole adolescent orphans, he leads them across the Caribbean Sea to Guadeloupe, into the midst of the immense changes sweeping the world outside their life in Havana. As Victor's ideals begin to warp and change to fit shifting policies, the trio can no longer bear his betrayal of revolutionary ideas. What ensues in this magical realist masterpiece speaks to the frightening and corrupting allure of power.
"One of Cuba's-and Latin America's-greatest historical novels, about imperial conquest carried out under the guise of liberation, in its first new English translation in sixty years and featuring a new foreword by Alejandro Zambra. When he arrives in Cuba at the close of the eighteenth century, Victor Hugues, a merchant sailor from Marseille, brings with him not only the idealism of the French Revolution but also its ambition and bloodlust. Landing at the Havana doorstep of a trio of wealthy, eccentric Creole orphans, he sweeps them across the Caribbean Sea to Guadeloupe, whose African slaves he frees only then to exploit them in his fight against the British for colonial sovereignty. What ensues in Alejo Carpentier's swashbuckling, magical realist masterpiece is an explosive clash between the New World and the Old World, and between revolutionary ideals and the corrupting allure of power"--
