TBA Book Club: Hotel Cuba by Aaron Hamburger
January 13, 2026 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Wewill meet on Tuesday, January 13, via Zoom, to discussthe fiction book, Hotel Cuba, by Aaron Hamburger. The bookis 379 pages and was published in 2023. It is available in book, electronic,and audiobook formats. The book may be ordered through Link+: https://csul.iii.com/search/?searchtype=X&searcharg=hotel+cuba&sortdropdown=-&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBMIT=Search&searchlimits=&searchorigarg=Xmemoirs+of+gluckel+%26SORT%3DDZ.
From Amazon:
“Deeplymoving, compulsively readable, Hotel Cuba chronicles the earlytwentieth century immigrant experience with a profound understanding andcrackling urgency I’ve not previously encountered. I could not put it down andI could not stop thinking about it long after I’d reached its stunning conclusion.In short: You need to read this book. Right now.”—Joanna Rakoff, bestsellingauthor of My Salinger Year
Fleeing the chaos of World War I andthe terror of the Soviet Revolution, practical, sensible Pearl Kahn and herlovestruck, impulsive younger sibling Frieda sail for America to join theirsister in New York. But discriminatory new immigration laws bar their entry,and the young women are turned back at Ellis Island. With few options, Pearland Frieda head for Havana, Cuba, convinced they will find a way to overcomethis setback.
At first, life in big-cityProhibition-era Havana is overwhelming, like nothing Pearl and Frieda have everexperienced—or could have ever imagined in the rural shtetl where they grew up.As the sisters begin to adjust, their plans for going to America togetherbecome complicated. Frieda falls for the not-so-dreamy man of her dreams whilePearl’s life opens up unexpectedly, offering her a taste of freedom and headyromance, and an opportunity to build a future on her own terms. Though to doso, she must confront her past and the shame she has long carried.
A heartbreaking, epic familystory, Hotel Cuba exploresthe profound courage of two women displaced from their home who strive tocreate a new future in an enticing and dangerous world far different fromanything they have ever known.
