Why a Booktrail?
Cold War: Graham Greene once said that ‘ Anything is possible in Havana’ and his book is the ultimate guide to the city and to Cuba as a whole
Our Man in Havana
What you need to know before your trail
Wormold is a vacuum cleaner salesman in a city of power cuts.
With a little money and a daughter who can spend it quicker than he can make it, (she also wants a pony) he needs to get some extra work and manages to get involve in a world of intrigue and spying.
So when a mysterious Englishman who says he needs his help, by writing some fake reports and spy for him, he accepts.
But although these reports are at fake at first, events start to take on a life of their own.
Travel Guide
There is a lot at play in this classic Greene novel – setting the novel primarily in the weird and wonderful Havana before the revolution is a joy to read and a great example of using events and the time to show how anything goes on the island and how people can be bought and confidences changed at the drop of a coin.
It’s not just Cuba and the irony of the situation that we laugh at here though – The British government gets its fair share of nudges and winks. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else, everyone tries to second guess the other person and the cloak of intrigue and shadowy dealings covers everyone.
Even the scene of the MI6 agent approaching someone (in a public toilet no less) and giving the infamous ‘tap on the shoulder’ is part of the plot as he becomes the Man in havana and goes on his historic journey.
He later shows them the sketches he has made of his surroundings – very witty.
All in all a great look at undercover Cuba and the underbelly of Havana.
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