Title: Let the Breeze Blow
Author: Eralides E. Cabrera
Publisher: Book Domain LLC.
ISBN: 978-1967903344
Pages: 376
Genre: Genre Literature & Fiction / Family Saga
Reviewed by: Anthony Avina
Hollywood Book Reviews
Often it is said that a person cannot go back home again. Of course this isn’t a literal event, as people often return to their homes where they grew up or their hometowns in general. Yet that return comes with years of experience and memories since those places were home, and those familiar places now feel out of sorts or filled with someone else’s memories instead.
That is the tone of author Eralides E. Cabrera’s Let The Breeze Blow. The novel follows Carlos Garcia, a successful Miami entrepreneur who would do anything for his wife and daughter. Yet things become stressful when they ask to return to his home country of Cuba, a place he hoped never to return to. When he reluctantly arranges a trip for his wife and daughter to go, things take a turn when they are led into the waiting arms of a Mexican gang, and Carlos is pushed to the edge to save his wife and daughter from untold danger.
A rich and compelling narrative, the author does a remarkable job of infusing Latin culture and history into a deeply family-driven story that is evenly paced and engaging in every turn. The complex family dynamics at work as Carlos struggles to keep his daughter away from the harsh realities of the political and military machine at work in his homeland of Cuba while his wife and daughter seek to reconnect to the land and culture itself was something many readers would be able to relate to, and speaks to the modern day discussion of immigration as well, showcasing the horrors many families flee from when they arrive in the United States and the promise of hope they seek in the U.S. The imagery and tension the story conjures is easily felt, and readers instantly feel connected to these characters and the emotional arc they have as a result.
Readers who enjoy genre fiction novels, especially those with family drama and bright, beautiful landscapes, will absolutely love this novel. The setting and the way Cuba almost becomes a character itself, elusive and full of both promise and danger, made the story really flow and kept me invested as the inherent danger faced by Carlos and his family was made apparent. The characters will instantly draw the reader in and the way the story focuses on Carlos facing his past trauma and separating that from what made his home so beautiful to begin with made this a stunning narrative which is both entertaining and emotionally driven at the same time.