Books: 'After You've Gone'

"After You've Gone" is Jeffery Lent's fourth novel, a story of love, loss and the struggle for purpose after tragedy. Henry Dorn, a college professor in the 1920s, grew up in Nova Scotia and turned a hard life into a happy one in western New York. That life is shattered by the death of his wife and son in an automobile crash. Alone and uncertain about his purpose, he buys passage to Holland, and aboard ship meets a woman whose independent life seems the opposite of his, yet hides a similar sadness. Although this novel, like Lent's earlier work, sweeps across time and place, this is truly an emotional journey. For those who have not sampled this fine writer's work, this is a good place to start.

DAVID SHAFFER, REPORTER

The death of idealism is messy, filled with betrayal, paranoia and uncertainty, in Roland Merullo's latest book. Set 47 years after Fidel Castro took over Cuba, this thriller shows that the island nation is still a jewel to be fought for, no matter how battered by Communist profiteers and vengeful capitalists. Carolina Perez, once a CIA operative, must repeatedly prove her loyalty to the ultra-secret White Orchid society that hopes to bring about the dictator's demise, even when it means misleading her dearest émigré uncle. Carlos Gutierrez, Castro's health minister for decades, must repeatedly overcome his own fears and principles when he joins a conspiracy to kill the leader he once revered. Merullo keeps the reader right there with them, desperate to know who among their acquaintances and loved ones are trustworthy, anxious to find out if Carolina and Carlos will succeed or succumb to a parallel plot to flush out Castro's detractors.