*SILVER MEDALIST in the 2022 International Latino Book Awards for Best Popular Fiction - English*

Happily married, backed by a powerful mentor, and with career prospects that would take him abroad, Serguey has more than any young Cuban lawyer could ask for. But when his estranged brother Victor appears with news that their father-famed theater director Felipe Blanco-has been detained for what he suspects are political reasons, Serguey's privileged life is suddenly shaken.

A return to his childhood home in Havana's decaying suburbs-a place filled with art, politics, and the remnants of a dissolving family-reconnects Serguey with his troubled past. He learns of an elusive dramaturge's link to Felipe, a man who could be key to his father's release. With the help of a social media activist and his wife's ties with the Catholic Church, Serguey sets out to unlock the mystery of Felipe's arrest and, in the process, is forced to confront the reasons for the hostility between him and Victor: two violent childhood episodes that scarred them in unforgettable ways. On the verge of imprisonment, Serguey realizes he must make a decision regarding not just his father, but his family and his own future, a decision which, under the harsh shadow of a communist state, he cannot afford to regret.

About the Author
Dariel Suarez was born in Havana, Cuba, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1997. His debut story collection, A Kind of Solitude, received the 2017 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction and the 2019 International Latino Book Award for Best Collection of Short Stories. Dariel is an inaugural City of Boston Artist Fellow and Education Director at GrubStreet. His prose has appeared in numerous publications, including the Threepenny Review, Prairie Schooner, the Kenyon Review, and the Caribbean Writer, where he was awarded the First Lady Cecile de Jongh Literary Prize. Dariel earned his MFA in Fiction at Boston University and currently resides in the Boston area with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

"Fans of realistic political thrillers won't want to miss this one." -Publishers Weekly

"...[A] taut and propulsive debut novel... [Suarez] makes Havana's texture palpable...Suarez is especially acute in bringing the intensities and complexities of sibling relationships to life."-Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe

"The Playwright's House is a bighearted novel, intricately embedded in the politics and daily life of contemporary Cuba. It is also a family story of love, sibling rivalry, courage, and redemption. Suarez writes with energy, exuberance, and psychological acuity. The straightforward prose adds gravity and earnestness to this remarkable novel." -Ha Jin, National Book Award winner and author of War Trash

"The Playwright's House is a thrilling and compassionate story of brotherhood, surveillance culture, the provocative power of theater, and the persistent ways past ghosts can haunt the present. Dariel Suarez animates the singularly complex and contradictory landscape of contemporary Havana with immense precision and insight. This is a stunning and vital novel." -Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel

"What makes this book special is the balance between political commentary, moral examination, and exploration of human relationships"-Ethan Chatagnier, On The Seawall

"With a plot that blends family stories and national history, this is a beautifully layered book that shows Cuba through the eyes of a native"-Teresa Doval, Latino Stories

"Driven by its political undercurrents, the novel follows Serguey's determined struggle to overcome his own and his country's intractable dispositions and come to terms with what he must do. It is a burdensome task, deftly described by Suarez. Serguey's struggle provides a weightiness to the fast-moving plot that defies Calvino's notion of lightness. The narrative has a crispness, a rhythmic pace, by turns deliberate and frantic, much like life on the island, yet the story never loses its momentum." -LA Review of Books

"In Dariel Suarez's debut novel, The Playwright's House, to be released in June from Red Hen Press, the realities of living in Havana under a communist state are brought alive through vivid detail and a sense of lived experience." -Startup Cuba TV Review

"Suarez intricately weaves in politics and family history - I want to savor each page!"-Marjan Kamali, author of The Stationery Shop, GBH

"This is an impressive debut novel and second book by Cuban-American writer Dariel Suarez. It was nice to read a novel about a country often mischaracterized and exoticized in American culture." -Tanushree Baidya, New Pages Blog

"If you want a good Cuban novel, read Cuban authors. Suarez has created a powerful novel about Cuba and its people, and the world he build is the one I know: a land with a repressive regime, yet with some of the best people you'll ever meet, know, and love." -Christopher Louis Romaguera, The Massachusetts Review

Awards
Winner of ILBA - Best Popular Fiction 2022 (United States). Runner-up for Massachusetts Book Award 2022 (United States).



Book Information
ISBN 9781597091145
Author Dariel Suarez
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Red Hen Press
Publisher Red Hen Press