She found freedom in the strangest of places. . .

Frantic to escape a soul-deadening position and the drone of middle age, psychologist and professor Jeanne Lemkau was flailing in turbulent waters when she grabbed the raft of sabbatical leave and sailed for Cuban shores. Her official mission was “to conduct research on Cuban health care and the effects of the U.S. embargo,” but when her best efforts collided with the realities of Communist Cuba, a more personal agenda emerged—to belatedly claim her right to solo adventure.

Jeanne arrived in Havana knowing no one, with rusty Spanish and little knowledge of Cuba. When she failed to gain approval of the Cuban health ministry to conduct official research,  new friends—and the streets of Havana—tempted her in directions only vaguely related to her official mission. But to pursue such opportunities without risking trouble with the U.S. government, she needed to maintain a “full-time schedule of research.” The resulting quandary forced her to consider what she valued most, what risks she was willing to assume, and the costs and consequences of conforming to the rules versus living more creatively. Ultimately, Jeanne succumbed to Cuba on its own terms and, in the process,fell in love with the country, discovered how to live more joyfully and—-incidentally-—learned a great deal about health care.

In Cuba--off limits to U.S. citizens and controlled by a Major Paternal Authority Figure--Jeanne grappled with the little “p” politics of two countries at once, while revisiting and reworking adolescent struggles for independence. This subversive memoir is the tale of her refusal to ignore the inner restlessness that calls for change. 

What readers are saying. . .

. . . full of beautifully-written, yummy encounters with Cubans of a myriad of stripes—religious pilgrims, taxi drivers, government bureaucrats, community doctors, a poet-landlord, a convent-full of nuns, a Santeria priestess, the oldest Communist in Cuba, and even Fidel himself.

Sara Taber Mansfield

Author, Dusk on the Campo

I began the book because of my foreign policy interests, but I finished it because I loved getting lost and found with Jeanne. Her story of angst and adventure offers an intimate exposure to Cuban culture and the lives of Cubans struggling with the fallout of the U.S. embargo. The book is fresh—political without being wonky.

Mavis Anderson

Senior Policy Analyst for Cuba

Latin America Working Group

The prose is crisp and bright, vividly alive and quietly contemplative by turns. Reading Lemkau's story of "accidental" transformation, I felt--not bombarded by ideas--but bathed in light, air, sun, warmth, color and more color, love and more love. 

             Diane S. Bonds

             Rockefeller Institute

A most enjoyable and compelling read. . . . Escapist literature, yes, but who else works out their midlife malaise in a Cuban leprosy sanatorium among nuns?  

  Wayne S. Smith

  Former Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana

  Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy

  Author, The Closest of Enemies:

  A Personal and Diplomatic Account of the Castro Years