“Broken Paradise” by Cecilia Samartin

This is a wonderfully told story of two Cuban cousins separated by Castro's revolution. Nora, the cousin that was able to leave, brings up the concept of the “ghost heart” - the “part of yourself that you can give away without losing who you are.” Except in her case, she felt she had given away the part that was real and only kept the “ghost heart” for herself.

Do we live with a ghost heart part of our lives? On occasion, I've painfully longed for the country of my birth, and for my parents. Is this a manifestation of the ghost heart? Always, the feelings subside and I go on living. Perhaps the ghost heart hasn't found a comfortable host in my breast. Soon, my son will go away to college. Will I be able to send him off with the ghost heart? Will I be strong enough to keep my real heart intact while this enormous part of my life moves away to start a life of his own? God, I pray so.

Anyway, I hope you get a chance to read this book, if for no other reason that the prose is beautifully evocative. This is definitely a 2-hankie read. Enjoy a good cry!