Hotel Cuba: A Novel
(Harper Perennial, 2023)

Saturday, September 30
2:00 p.m.
Lewes Public Library Meeting Room

About the book
Fleeing the chaos of World War I and the terror of the Soviet Revolution, two sheltered Russian Jewish sisters — practical, sensible Pearl Kahn and her lovestruck, impulsive younger sibling Frieda — sail for America to join their sister in New York. But discriminatory new immigration laws bar their entry, and the young women are turned back at Ellis Island. With few options, Pearl and Frieda head for Cuba, convinced they will find a way to overcome this setback, but they become trapped in the sultry, hedonistic world of 1920s Havana.

This event is presented in partnership with Seaside Jewish Community.

About the author
Aaron Hamburger is the author of the novel Nirvana Is Here; a story collection, The View from Stalin’s Head, which was awarded the Rome Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and nominated for a Violet Quill Award; and another novel, Faith for Beginners. Hotel Cuba is based on the real-life immigration story of his grandparents.

Hamburger will be in conversation with Aida Waserstein at the event.

Aida Waserstein is a retired family court judge and children’s author. Like the Kahn sisters in Hotel Cuba, her family fled Eastern Europe in 1922 but were refused entry to the U.S. and ended up in Cuba. Waserstein left Cuba as a child in 1961, during “Operation Peter Pan.”

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2023 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. Our Keynote Address is presented by Sally Mott Freeman and John K. Freeman, and our Closing Address is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our program partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library for event promotion and venue; Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival; Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Additional thanks to our community partners: ACLU Delaware, Beebe Healthcare, CAMP Rehoboth, Historic Lewes Farmers Market, Lewes Historical Society, Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth Beach Historical Society & Museum, Seaside Jewish Community, and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).