The island of eternal love / Daína Chaviano ; translated from the Spanish by Andrea G. Labinger

"First published in Spanish by Grijalbo ... 2006"--T.p. verso.

An enchanting multi-generational epic of three families from Africa, Spain, and China and their bond to one another and the island they call home. Cecilia is alone in a city that haunts her. Life in Miami evokes memories of Cuba: a scent in the breeze like the sea at the Malec n; the beat of a clave recalls island evenings when couples danced to forgotten rhythms. Far from her family, her history, and her home, Cecilia seeks refuge in a bar in Little Havana, where a mysterious old woman's fascinating tale keeps her returning night after night. It is a story of three families from opposite corners of the world from Africa, Spain, and China that spans more than a century. Within it, a Chinese widow seeks protection for her daughter in her family's idols; an African slave brings the rhythms of her birth to an enchanted isl? and a curse dances before the female descendants of a charmed Spanish matriarch, forming the mythic origins of one family's indestructible bond. The connection strengthens with each generation into a legendary, unbreakable love. Under the story's heady sway, Cecilia begins to discover the source of the elusive shadows that plague her and, along with it, a link to the past she cannot shake.