Perhaps slightly mis-named: the sub-title suggests that Sarah Rainsford saw a lot of Cuba in Fidel Castro’s time, whereas she actually arrived much later, as Raúl Castro’s reign was coming to an end and reforms were starting uncertainly to swirl. That’s a minor point, though, and this is a well-described and insightful autobiography, full of colour and the thoughts and feelings of modern Cubans that only a really dedicated journalist can extract.

This being a book about Cuba, Graham Greene is also part of the cast, as are several or his contemporaries. Re-visiting Greene’s haunts and the places that he used in writing Our Man in Havana shows the changes that have occurred in high relief, as socialism swept away the old regime without really creating anything substantial to replace it.I think reading this book really helps to understand Greene’s work better.

3/5. Finished Friday 25 March, 2022.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)