Quirino the Knight of the Malecón

<p>El Hidalgo del Malecón is an epic-popular chronicle that blends humor myth memory and pain to narrate Cuba's recent history through the eyes of a lucid madman and his endearing squire. Quirino Hidalgo son of the sea and of truth decides to take on the windmills of power with a broom for a spear and words as his only armor. At his side Pancho-neighborhood chronicler and accidental philosopher-records the daily life of Cubans: the endless queues the infinite ingenuity the inherited fear the blackouts the laughter that heals the music that resists and the dignity that never dies. Through scenes that combine satire tenderness and spirituality the book creates a kind of Caribbean Don Quixote where political absurdity coexists with human beauty. Here the sea has memory the streets whisper humor becomes a shield and words become homeland. It is a work that does not seek to provide answers but rather to raise questions; it does not seek bronze heroes but living people. A tribute to the ordinary Cuban to their unheroic pains their unpermitted laughter and their almost miraculous ability to keep dreaming even when reality insists on the contrary. A book for those who love Cuba for those who miss it for those who fear it and for those who still believe that a story told with truth can change a destiny. </p>