Joy Castro
Fiction 2023/ 334 pages
In the late 1800's there were 30 cigar factories in Key West. The booming cigar industry made it the most prosperous city in Florida. I was fascinated to learn that it was the custom for employees of the factories to hire lectors. A lector read novels and political books to the factory workers, as they rolled and trimmed cigars. How wonderfully civil!
I enjoyed One Brilliant Flame a great deal. Key West is largely Cuban at this time, 1886, and Cubans are fighting the Spaniards in Cuba and trying to wrest control of their country from Spain.
I found the three main characters delightful. There is Sofia, who is rich and has servants. Chaveta is named after the knife that cigar rollers use in their work. Zenaida lives in the boarding house her mother owns and manages. These three women are best friends, and we hear each voice in this novel. Chaveta is my favorite. She is in the cigar factory owned by Sofia's father and is the most radical of the bunch. She wears pants. She eats a lot. She eschews tradition.
I particularly liked the first half or so, when all we hear is from our three young women. Their characters are interesting ... not necessarily deep, but still it intrigues to read about their lives and their relationships . The war in Cuba, who is trying to wrest independence from Spain, is always an undercurrent
About halfway in, the men come to be more present in the book.. Feliciano is a charismatic Spanish anarchist; Libano, the cafetero, is silent and watchful; Maceo is a daring guerrilla soldier. When the men arrive fully in the book, the conversation amongst the characters, as well as what we read of their internal musings, turns more to war, defending Cuba, and the relationship between poetry and war(!) I found this a bit less interesting than when we saw this slice of the world only through the eyes of the women. And yes, some romances do blossom.
I liked One Brilliant Flame, but I didn't love it. There is essentially no plot to grab onto. Ignore the reviewers who claim this book is about the Great Fire of 1886; we don't witness the fire until the very last pages.
Enjoy if you read this novel! I learned more about Cuba and the war for independence than I anticipated.
January 2026