The Distant Marvels: A Novel

by Chantel Acevedo

Overview

Maria Sirena tells stories. She does it for money, and for love. But now she will be asked to tell one last story so that eight women can keep hope alive.

Cuba, 1963. Hurricane Flora is bearing down on the island. Seven women have been evacuated from their homes into the former governor’s mansion, where they are watched over by another woman, Ofelia, a young soldier of Castro’s new Cuba. Outside the storm is raging. In a single room on the top floor of the governor’s mansion, Maria Sirena begins to tell the incredible story of her childhood during Cuba’s Third War of Independence. Stories, however, have a way of taking on a life of their own, and Maria Sirena will end up revealing more than she or anyone ever expected.

“The Distant Marvels, like love itself, is both storm and shelter at once.”—Justin Torres, National Book Award-winning author of Blackouts

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798889661184
Publisher:	Europa Editions, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/01/2025
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Chantel Acevedo was born in Miami to Cuban parents. She is the author of The Living Infinite (Europa, 2017); A Falling Star(Carolina Wren Press, 2014); and Love and Ghost Letters (St. Martins, 2006), winner of the Latino International Book Award. Acevedo is a professor of English at the University of Miami, where she directs the MFA program.

Reading Group Guide

FOR DISCUSSION

1. María Sirena’s mother Lulu had the spirit of a true revolutionary, but as a woman, lacked the social position to fight for the cause. What does The Distant Marvels suggest about the place of women in history?

2. Why is Agustín so determined to keep Lulu and María Sirena in his life when he expresses so little affection for them?

3. After living a strangely sheltered life as a child prisoner, at the age of fourteen María Sirena is thrown into a world of conflict. Is there a singular moment in the story when she becomes an adult, or is it a gradual transformation?

4. How has motherhood shaped María Sirena, softened or hardened her remembrances, and changed her perspective on herself as a younger woman?

5. Does María Sirena ever get the “cosmic justice” that Dulce claims the world lacks? What might that justice be?

6. Do you think it was reasonable for Mireya to blame María Sirena for her son’s death?

7. What is the relationship between María Sirena’s ailing physical body and her vision of herself as a young woman? What does The Distant Marvels suggest about the relationship of the physical body to the life of the mind and the spirit?

8. How does the Casa Velazquez serve as a metaphor for the dramatic changes taking place across Cuba?

9. What aspects of The Distant Marvels recall the form of a fairytale or an epic?

10. What relevance does storytelling have in contemporary life? Is it a way to preserve valuable history, or a way of obscuring the cold facts ofhistory?

11. Is it possible to look objectively at one’s own history? How objective or subjective is María Sirena’s tale?

12. What does The Distant Marvels suggest about the relationship between the individual and history? How much of an individual’s life is shaped by the history that precedes them, and how much power does an individual have to shape their future?

13. At the end of The Distant Marvels, do you think that María Sirena has forgiven herself for what happened to her mother, Mario, and Mayito? Did she ever deserve blame for their fate, and if so, does she deserve forgiveness?
 
Find out more at www.europaeditions.com

Editorial Reviews

FINALIST - ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION

“A modern riff on Scheherazade that celebrates the art of the story.”—BookRiot

“Acevedo brilliantly conveys the dual nature of the stories we tell ourselves, which achieve grace and transformation through tempestuous churning. The Distant Marvels, like love itself, is both storm and shelter at once.”—Justin Torres, National Book Award-winning author of Blackouts 

“Lush and captivating . . . The women in these pages survive to tell their tales, and oh, what wondrous stories they are.”—Marie Manilla, author of The Patron Saint of Ugly

“Exquisitely rendered. A Thousand and One Nights-style surrender to the true art of storytelling.”—Ana Castillo, American Book Award-winning author of The Mixquiahuala Letters 

“Acevedo’s prose has an endearingly relaxed feel—like she’s sitting across from you and telling the tale.”—OZY

★ “A major, uniquely powerful, and startlingly beautiful novel that should bring Acevedo’s name to the top echelon of this generation’s writers.”—Booklist (Starred Review)

★ “Irresistible moments of rebellion and bravery define this tale. Perfect timing for a Scheherazade-style account of Cuban history.”—Kirkus (Starred Review)

“As Hurricane Flora blows past Fidel Castro’s new Cuba, Acevedo’s heartbreaking and humane novel comes to a memorable conclusion.”—Publishers Weekly

“Here is a generous slice of Cuba’s national epic, delivered by a mesmerizing tale-spinner.”—Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls’ Rising

“Acevedo is one of the most versatile and exciting writers of her generation, with a voice that speaks not only to the American experience, but to our universal humanity. I fall for her characters, whole-heartedly, while being covetous of her stunning prose.”—Julianna Baggot, author of the Pure trilogy

“A compelling, gorgeously-written epic about Cuban women as fierce as the storms and the hardships they endure. Every scene, every detail, every utterance and intimacy feels richly, enchantingly true.”—Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban

“I loved The Distant Marvels . . . Acevedo’s language is liquid and gathering, mirroring the great ebb and swell of political struggle, transcending love, as well as the events that have gathered the storyteller, María Sirena, and her audience together under one brilliantly constructed ‘roof.’”
—Ru Freeman, author of On Sal Mal Lane

 “Acevedo hovers between poetry and prose, romance and history, nostalgia and modern life.”—Margarita Engle, author of The Surrender Tree

From the Publisher

★ 2015-02-16
One woman's story of brutality, courage, tragedy, and love gets a roomful of Cuban refugees through a hurricane. As Hurricane Flora approaches Cuba in 1963, 82-year-old María Sirena Alonso refuses to evacuate with her neighbors; she is seriously ill and does not want to be saved. But once the storm arrives, a soldier shows up at her door to load her on a bus bound for a shelter. Though she takes nothing with her except a small framed photograph of a little boy, she needs nothing more because her whole life is in her head: "I have a perfect memory. I remember nearly everything I've ever read or heard." Once installed in a room at the erstwhile governor's mansion with a group of women who will ride out the storm together—including an ex-friend whose dead son used to be married to her daughter—María Sirena begins to tell the story of her life, beginning with her birth to Cuban parents on a Spanish ship at the end of the 19th century. Her rebel father is jailed as soon as they reach shore; her resourceful, beautiful mother, Lulu, finds protection for herself and her daughter with another man. When Agustín rejoins them, they are swept into the war against the Spanish. Acevedo's third novel (A Falling Star, 2014, etc.) mingles the recounting of María Sirena's epic family saga, which ends with a heartbreaking confession, with scenes among the women at the mansion. One woman decides to make a break for it: "It is Noraida, swimming in the debris-filled water, her brightly dyed hair like streamers in her wake. We watch as she pushes aside a plastic cup, a sheet of plywood, an umbrella floating upside down and bobbing along." Such irresistible moments of rebellion and bravery define this tale. Perfect timing for a Scheherazade-style account of Cuban history.

Kirkus Reviews