Songs of the Lunatic: An Invented Memoir (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781783243136)

Synopsis Songs of the Lunatic

The story begins with Luna, a 7-year-old boy in 1958 Havana. Like any 7-year-old, he lives in his own world. But unlike most children, Luna's world is privileged. He's the grandson of a popular and gifted newspaper editor known for defending liberty with both pen and sword. Luna is surrounded by poetry lovers and free thinkers. He grows up watching American TV like Hopalong Cassidy, the Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, and movies like Fantasia and The Vikings. He also learns English in school, as in, See Spot Run-all favorable winds in light of where he is heading.

Luna does not fit in the world at large and, wherever he goes, his renegade soul follows for better or for worse. In that way, he is consistent. One day in 1960, his mother tells him they are going to Miami for what he is led to believe is a routine shopping trip. The kind they have made a few times before. This time, he will never see his homeland again. He packs his beloved American Indian moccasins and off he goes. From the first evening in Miami, he embraces the city with his signature élan.

Luna navigates his fate and circumstances through the 60s and 70s, narrating his story like a wayward balladeer. Love him or not, he speaks from the heart, because that's where he lives.