It is 1947 and Israel Levis, a Cuban composer whose life had once been a dream of music, love, and sadness, is returning to Habana, Cuba from Spain where he has just recovered from the physical and spiritual malaises resulting from his experiences in Paris—then Buchenwald—during the Nazi occupation of France. (A devout Catholic, Levis had been mistakenly identified as a Jew because of his name.)When Levis arrives back in Habana, after an absence of many years, his mind is reeling with beautiful memories of his life in Cuba and in Paris before the war, a life of pleasure and excitement that he owes, in part, to an unrequited, nearly "chivalrous" romance with a certain Rita Valladares, a singer for whom Levis had written his most famous song, "Las Rositas Puras" or "Beautiful Roses." This 1928 composition becomes the most famous rumba in the world and changes both American and European tastes in music and dance, forever; and it is the son symbolic of the composer's love for Rita Valladares, that sets Levis's live in Europe in motion. This is a love story—for art, family, and country—that will also acquaint readers with a portrait of Habana, at the turn of the last century, when "the world was good."About the Author:Oscar Hijuelos was born of Cuban parentage in New York City in 1951. He has been the recipient of the Rome Prize, and grants from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation, among others. His five previous novels have been translated into 25 languages.