Join us at the JCA for a virtual AND in-person event inspired by Hotel Cuba! The event will kick off at 4 PM with a Mojito cookie bake (inspired by the torticas de Morón – Cuban shortbread cookies- that Pearl craves in the book) and Cuban dinner. While our cookies bake, we will enjoy Cuban food and drinks and listen to Aaron Hamburger’s virtual talk at 7 PM. Come join at any time, for part or all of the event. Please register by Dec. 4th to receive the Zoom link for the talk. In-person and virtual registration options available.

Hotel Cuba Synopsis: Sturdy, sensible Pearl Kahn and her lovestruck, impulsive younger sister Frieda are fleeing the chaos of World War I and the Soviet Revolution. Intending to join their sister in New York, the pair are blocked from entering Ellis Island due to newly enacted and discriminatory immigration laws. Without many options, Pearl and Frieda make the journey to Havana, Cuba, promising each other that it is only temporary. Their sights are still set on America, which they believe is merely a temporary waystation en route to the land of their dreams.

As Pearl searches for a way to get them to America—and to dissuade Frieda from marrying the not-so-dreamy man of her dreams—her life opens up unexpectedly, forcing Pearl to confront her past, as well as shed the shame that she carries everywhere, and to build a future on her own terms.

A heartbreaking, epic family story, Hotel Cuba explores the profound everyday courage of two women displaced from their home and who strive to create a new one in strange lands. This book is available from our friends at Longfellow Books.