A Few Streets, A Few People

In "Our Man in Havana", Graham Greene wrote that 'to each man a city consists of no more than a few streets, a few houses, a few people. Remove those few and the city no longer exists except as a pain in the memory, like the pain of an amputated leg no longer there.' In this, his third book, John Comino-James shows us the world that is contained within just a few streets in the very ordinary neighbourhood of Cayo Hueso in Havana, Cuba. Through portraits and candid observation, he builds an honest and intimate record of a small and tight-knit community. This is not the Havana of the tourist, but a city in which people go about their daily lives, dealing with the everyday realities that have resulted from decades of political isolation. In a powerful and beautifully written afterword, Comino-James intersperses his experiences of several vists to the area, with fascinating information on the history of Cuba and the city of Havana.