Review by Booklist Review
This sweeping historical-fiction account of the life of the renowned Cuban actress Estelita Rodriguez and her daughter, Nina Lopez, is told through letters from the 1930s to the 1960s. Estelita rose from Havana's nightclub scene at the tender age of nine to the screens of several Hollywood Westerns alongside Roy Rogers and John Wayne by the time she was 14, armed with a powerful voice and a compelling beauty, and with her mother, Maria, along for the ride. Estelita's marriage to, and eventual divorce from, singer Chu-Chu Martinez results in young Nina being away from her father as Estelita moves on to the next husband. When Chu-Chu decides Nina is better off under his thumb in Mexico, Estelita devises a rescue operation that lands them in Cuba with her sisters, just as the revolution reaches their door. The Hollywood glamour and the struggles of war will appeal to history fans while Nina and Estelita's relationship will draw lovers of women's fiction. The true gem in this story is learning how the author developed the tale of real-life Estelita through interviews with Nina.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Burdick (The Girls With No Names) delivers a poignant and gripping account of the life of Cuban actress Estelita Rodriquez (1928--1966) through letters between Estelita and her daughter, Nina. At 15, Estelita travels to New York with her mother to sing at the Copacabana. She meets Chu Chu Martinez, a famous Mexican singer, and by 18 she is married and living in Mexico with Chu Chu and their six-week-old baby, Nina. Soon, though, Chu Chu forbids her to perform again. She escapes to Los Angeles with Nina and settles in with her mother, who talks her into signing a movie deal with Republic Pictures. However, Hollywood and fame leave less time for Nina, who is sent to boarding school. In 1958, when Nina is 12 and at home on summer break, she is kidnapped by Chu Chu. What follows is a chase through Mexico and a harrowing stay in Cuba during the revolution. With great skill, Burdick weaves a heartbreaking narrative of a star's rise and fall, and whose unexplained death at 37 deeply affects her daughter. Estelita's sacrifices and determination as a mother and an artist make for a deeply affecting tragedy. Agent: Stephanie Delman, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (Jan.)
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