“My Mother in Havana lifts the veil between the living and the dead and makes believers of us all. This story of a mother's absence and a daughter's need is written with a lyricism that filled my heart with beauty while also making it ache for loved ones lost. This is a stunning debut.” —Lee Martin, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist, The Bright Forever​“

 

I closed this book believing more than ever that the people we love, including the people we’ve been, never really leave us.” —Maggie Smith, New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful

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With a pilgrim’s devotion, and a grieving daughter’s heart, Huntman takes us with her to places where, if we open ourselves fully, “one could simply lift one’s palm and brush the heavens.” —Brenda Miller, A Braided Heart: Essays on Writing and Form

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My Mother in Havana is deeply feminist and fascinating—a profound depiction of one woman’s spiritual quest for wholeness and healing.”—Heather Lanier, author of the memoir Raising a Rare Girl

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In language pulsing with rhythm and ritual, Huntman leaves room for us to imagine what we might be looking for in our own lives, how we might need to mother and be mothered as we open to the messy wholeness of our own stories. What a gift.”—Jill Christman, author of If This Were Fiction: A Love Story in Essays

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“More than a memoir, My Mother in Havana is a window to the spirituality of Cuba; Huntman’s deep research and engagement with the rituals, specialists, and devotees of Afro-Cuban religion reflects her in-depth knowledge of these practices as both an observer and a participant.”—Grete Viddal, PhD, Department of African and African-American Studies and Anthropology, Harvard University