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The Eternal Forest: A Memoir of the Cuban Diaspora
"[Narrator Frankie] Corzo's expressive style enhances [author Elena] Sheppard's moving story of loss and identity. " — AudioFile
In the tradition of The Yellow House and Half Broke Horses, a memoir of the Cuban diaspora that follows one family’s exile from the island, through a lyrical exploration of memory, cultural mythology, and the history of Cuban-American relations.
History is undeniably dominated by its men, but the stories Elena Sheppard was brought up on were almost always about Cuba’s women—everyday women, whose names would be forgotten and buried along with their bones unless someone took the effort to remember them.
Cifuentes, Cuba, in the 1950s was nearly idyllic—at least that’s how Elena’s grandparents, Rosita and Gustavo Delgado, remember the Eden they left. When Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, Gustavo was placed on a list of political undesirables, and by the end of 1960, the couple and their two daughters had fled to Florida, with nothing more than five dollars, and a suitcase each. The Delgados were certain they would return to Cifuentes within a few months, after Castro’s reign had run its course. But they never went back, and a piece of each of their identities became frozen in that moment.
In 1987, Elena was the first in Gustavo and Rosita’s family to be born in the United States, but through the memories that lived on in her grandmother’s mind, Cuba became the foundation of her childhood. Elena takes us inside these stories, and as we travel back and forth across the narrow Florida Straits that separate Miami and Havana, we also weave between past and present, to discover family secrets that are on the brink of being lost to time.
In lyrical yet unflinching prose, The Eternal Forest follows one family’s exile from their homeland and in so doing, it tells the larger political story of the Cuban Revolution and its diaspora. Through a spellbinding blend of cultural myth, historical texts, and personal narrative, The Eternal Forest seeks to understand the nature of inheritance, how trauma and memory are passed down through generations, and what it means to yearn for an island you can never fully know.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press
In the tradition of The Yellow House and Half Broke Horses, a memoir of the Cuban diaspora that follows one family’s exile from the island, through a lyrical exploration of memory, cultural mythology, and the history of Cuban-American relations.
History is undeniably dominated by its men, but the stories Elena Sheppard was brought up on were almost always about Cuba’s women—everyday women, whose names would be forgotten and buried along with their bones unless someone took the effort to remember them.
Cifuentes, Cuba, in the 1950s was nearly idyllic—at least that’s how Elena’s grandparents, Rosita and Gustavo Delgado, remember the Eden they left. When Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, Gustavo was placed on a list of political undesirables, and by the end of 1960, the couple and their two daughters had fled to Florida, with nothing more than five dollars, and a suitcase each. The Delgados were certain they would return to Cifuentes within a few months, after Castro’s reign had run its course. But they never went back, and a piece of each of their identities became frozen in that moment.
In 1987, Elena was the first in Gustavo and Rosita’s family to be born in the United States, but through the memories that lived on in her grandmother’s mind, Cuba became the foundation of her childhood. Elena takes us inside these stories, and as we travel back and forth across the narrow Florida Straits that separate Miami and Havana, we also weave between past and present, to discover family secrets that are on the brink of being lost to time.
In lyrical yet unflinching prose, The Eternal Forest follows one family’s exile from their homeland and in so doing, it tells the larger political story of the Cuban Revolution and its diaspora. Through a spellbinding blend of cultural myth, historical texts, and personal narrative, The Eternal Forest seeks to understand the nature of inheritance, how trauma and memory are passed down through generations, and what it means to yearn for an island you can never fully know.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press
9 pages, Audible Audio
First published September 30, 2025
52 people are currently reading
8916 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
July 28, 2025
Beautifully and lovingly written, this is the story of one family’s flight from Cuba to the United States. Intermingled with a thorough, but not overwhelming history of Cuba, it delves into the lives of three generations of Cuban women and their extended family. Is it not often the women who hold the families together and are the guardians of memories?
I enjoyed learning more about the history of this island nation and, in fact, saw some concerning parallels that serve as a cautionary for our times.…rewriting history, making people doubt, making people forget, maps changing when government changes.
As the author recounts her family history, I couldn’t help but smile at some of the stories and how it’s often the case that there are several different versions of how events unfolded. Most impressive is the lifelong love and caring that the author and her mother expressed for the matriarch of the family, the abuela who, with her husband, made the difficult decision to flee Cuba upon the rise of Fidel Castro. Despite leaving behind the island they had called home, there is always a pull and emotional connection that binds them to it, a connection that spans generations.
Thanks to @NetGalley and @StMartinsPress for the DRC.
I enjoyed learning more about the history of this island nation and, in fact, saw some concerning parallels that serve as a cautionary for our times.…rewriting history, making people doubt, making people forget, maps changing when government changes.
As the author recounts her family history, I couldn’t help but smile at some of the stories and how it’s often the case that there are several different versions of how events unfolded. Most impressive is the lifelong love and caring that the author and her mother expressed for the matriarch of the family, the abuela who, with her husband, made the difficult decision to flee Cuba upon the rise of Fidel Castro. Despite leaving behind the island they had called home, there is always a pull and emotional connection that binds them to it, a connection that spans generations.
Thanks to @NetGalley and @StMartinsPress for the DRC.
May 17, 2025
Elena Sheppard’s “The Eternal Forest: A Memoir of the Cuban Diaspora” is one of the most unique and rewarding memoirs I’ve encountered. She blends history, memory, myth, and familial storytelling into a rich tapestry that will touch the heart of anyone who has ever felt homesick for a place and time they’ve never been. Her narrative flows like a conversation with someone who is remembering key details of a story—adding color, depth, and flavor—but pieces everything together in a beautifully lyrical examination of how family, history, and tragedy impact and inform identity for generations to come.
July 15, 2025
The Eternal Forest is a poignant and heartfelt rendering of a family whose roots stretch between Cuba and the States. Sheppard artfully blends history as it pertains to generations of her family and Cuba.
Sheppard uses three pillars-her grandmother, mother, and herself-to weave a history that spans over one hundred years. The experiences that each generation faces- from regime change in Cuba, fleeing Cuba, and trying to grapple with identity as a Cuban American- is impactful and thought provoking.
With an identity that lies between two countries, Sheppard grapples with the rich tapestry that is her history and that of the Cuban diaspora.
Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for the opportunity to respond to this book with my honest opinions.
Sheppard uses three pillars-her grandmother, mother, and herself-to weave a history that spans over one hundred years. The experiences that each generation faces- from regime change in Cuba, fleeing Cuba, and trying to grapple with identity as a Cuban American- is impactful and thought provoking.
With an identity that lies between two countries, Sheppard grapples with the rich tapestry that is her history and that of the Cuban diaspora.
Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for the opportunity to respond to this book with my honest opinions.
October 2, 2025
“We came with five dollars and one suitcase.” A phrase repeated often through the years regarding the exile from Cuba. Filled with heartfelt nostalgia and beautiful prose, Elena Sheppard recounts the journey from a tumultuous Cuba to the United States through stories passed down through generations and the treasure of a tape recording of her grandmother.
“So much gets abandoned in the forest of the past, particularly in exile. Our house. Our lives. Our Mariana.” This line is especially haunting when I reflected on Elena’s memoir, at everything lost and forfeited for a better life. You can voluntarily leave your homeland, but it’s a part of you and calling you to return. The brief history of Cuba was a nice addition(not too much) and necessary to show before and after Castro’s takeover. The impact of Castro on the people of Cuba was devastating.
This is a lovely book about family, sacrifice, and memories.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an early copy. A big thank you to the author for sharing her family’s story.
“So much gets abandoned in the forest of the past, particularly in exile. Our house. Our lives. Our Mariana.” This line is especially haunting when I reflected on Elena’s memoir, at everything lost and forfeited for a better life. You can voluntarily leave your homeland, but it’s a part of you and calling you to return. The brief history of Cuba was a nice addition(not too much) and necessary to show before and after Castro’s takeover. The impact of Castro on the people of Cuba was devastating.
This is a lovely book about family, sacrifice, and memories.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an early copy. A big thank you to the author for sharing her family’s story.
2025
October 3, 2025Memoir March TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press
November 14, 2025
The Eternal Forest is a memoir that feels like cracking open a family heirloom—one that’s been tucked away in a cedar chest alongside faded photos, whispered secrets, and at least one grandmother who could out-story any historian. Elena Sheppard braids myth, memory, and political upheaval into something both intimate and sweeping, making Cuba not just a place her family fled but the epicenter of her identity.
What I loved most is how Sheppard centers the women—the Rositas of the world whose lives rarely make it into textbooks but absolutely make it into our bones. The prose is lyrical without drifting into precious territory, and her reflection on inherited trauma and diaspora longing lands with a quiet, insistent weight. You can practically hear the Florida Straits humming between the lines.
It’s not a light read, but it’s a beautiful one—part family chronicle, part political compass, part elegy for an island imagined and remembered. A moving exploration of what we keep, what we lose, and what becomes eternal when home is both a memory and a myth.
What I loved most is how Sheppard centers the women—the Rositas of the world whose lives rarely make it into textbooks but absolutely make it into our bones. The prose is lyrical without drifting into precious territory, and her reflection on inherited trauma and diaspora longing lands with a quiet, insistent weight. You can practically hear the Florida Straits humming between the lines.
It’s not a light read, but it’s a beautiful one—part family chronicle, part political compass, part elegy for an island imagined and remembered. A moving exploration of what we keep, what we lose, and what becomes eternal when home is both a memory and a myth.
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November 14, 2025Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copies!
While I usually prefer memoirs to be read by the author, I was pleased to see that this one was narrated by Frankie Corzo, a favorite narrator of books by Chanel Cleeton and Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I haven't read much about the Cuban Diaspora, so this was a great way to learn more through the generations of the Delgado family. The balance of history and personal experience made this one special!
While I usually prefer memoirs to be read by the author, I was pleased to see that this one was narrated by Frankie Corzo, a favorite narrator of books by Chanel Cleeton and Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I haven't read much about the Cuban Diaspora, so this was a great way to learn more through the generations of the Delgado family. The balance of history and personal experience made this one special!
November 24, 2025
Elena Sheppard’s The Eternal Forest: A Memoir of the Cuban Diaspora is a richly lyrical, deeply evocative chronicle—at once intimate family history, poetic reflection, and political meditation. Over the course of the book, Sheppard weaves together the last century of her family’s life, migrating between the sun-washed streets of pre-revolutionary Cuba, the storm-tossed uncertainty of exile, and the layered memories of her American childhood. The result is a memoir that feels both personal and mythic—a song for a homeland that exists as much in memory as in geography.
From the very outset, Sheppard’s prose is lush and textured, suffused with metaphor and memory in a way that reads less like a conventional memoir and more like a tapestry or an incantation. The title itself, The Eternal Forest, captures the core of her project: the forest is not just a place, but a metaphor for memory, legacy, and loss. Sheppard describes how her life is tangled up in the past—“concentric circles on a cave wall, a name passed lip to ear, a whisper in the dead of night.” There is a magical quality to these sentences, but they are anchored by real pain.
At its heart, the memoir follows three generations of Cuban women—her grandmother Rosita, her mother Margarita, and Sheppard herself—as they carry the weight of home in their bones. Her grandparents, Rosita and Gustavo Delgado, fled their modest town of Cifuentes in the early days of Castro’s revolution with “nothing more than five dollars, and a suitcase each.” Their flight, initially brimming with hope that they would return, becomes permanent, freezing their Cuban identity in a moment of rupture.
Lush Language and Evocative Storytelling
What makes The Eternal Forest so compelling is its language. Sheppard writes in a voice that is at once conversational and incantatory. In passages recalling her grandmother’s recollections of Cifuentes in the 1950s, she conjures a nearly Edenic landscape: palm trees, rumba, sugar money, salt breezes. arts.columbia.edu+1 But this idyllic memory always flickers with shadows: of political tension, loss, and exile. Sheppard moves back and forth in time—with vignettes that feel like shards of stained glass, refracting personal and collective history.
This non-linear structure closely mirrors how memory actually works: not as a tidy, chronological narrative, but as a forest of stories—some wild, some pruned, others tangled, others lost. Southern Review of Books praises this “vignette structure … like an excavation of memory, an unearthing of its fragmented yet enduring nature.”
Mental Illness, Trauma, and Inheritance
A particularly powerful thread in Sheppard’s memoir is the exploration of mental illness in her family, and how trauma, grief, and secrets pass down through generations. Her aunt Mariana, haunted by unspoken pain, died by suicide—a presence that continues to loom over the family. Shelf Awareness+1 Sheppard does not shy away from the darkness: she reflects on her aunt’s “dark periods,” the inexplicable moments of despair, and the ways in which mental illness was misunderstood or ignored in her Cuban family.
At the same time, Sheppard is candid about her own anxiety. According to reviews, she connects her aunt’s suicide to other losses in the family—and to a broader, multigenerational trauma rooted in dislocation and exile. Shelf Awareness This is not a memoir that treats trauma as a footnote; instead, it gives trauma a place in the forest of memory, examining how grief shapes identity and how the weight of mental illness can live in inheritance as much as in genes.
Identity, Belonging, and Exile
Sheppard’s reflection on her own identity is deeply moving. As she has written elsewhere, she struggled with imposter syndrome around her Cuban identity—her surname is Anglo (Sheppard), her Spanish imperfect—and she often asked herself, Am I Cuban enough? People.com That question becomes a driving force for her work: she visited Cuba, traced her family's footsteps, recorded her grandmother’s stories, and waded into archives—all to understand her heritage on her own terms.
In her Latina Media Co op-ed, Sheppard writes that immigration “cleaves a family’s history into a before and an after.” LatinaMedia.Co The rupture of exile imposes a kind of duality: physical distance, yes, but also a psychic distance between what is remembered and what is lost. Her memoir becomes a conversation between those two worlds. Rosita, her grandmother, is for her a “portal to the past”; Sheppard records her at 97 years old, aware that memories are slipping away, and that this portal might soon close.
Historical and Political Context: Refugees, Revolution, and U.S. Asylum Policy
While The Eternal Forest is deeply personal, it is also political. Sheppard’s family story parallels the larger history of Cuba and the Cuban diaspora. Gustavo Delgado, her grandfather, was put on a list of “political undesirables” in the early years of the revolution—a designation that forced his hand. Macmillan Publishers Their journey to Florida is not just a family flight—it is part of the wider exodus of Cubans who left under duress, leaving behind memories, land, and often whole communities.
Sheppard contextualizes this personal history within U.S.–Cuba relations, not in dry diplomatic prose but in the emotional register of memory. While the book itself does not necessarily dive deep into detailed policy, the memoir implicitly touches on the fraught dynamics of asylum and refuge. It evokes how exiles like her grandparents came to the U.S., driven by peril and promise, and how their identity and legacy were forever shaped by that journey.
In doing so, her story resonates with the history of U.S. policies like the “wet foot, dry foot” policy—a policy (in place from 1995 until 2017) under which Cubans who made landfall (“dry foot”) in the U.S. could stay, but those intercepted at sea (“wet foot”) were typically sent back. Although Sheppard’s grandparents fled mostly by land (or in early decades, via other routes), her family’s narrative is part of a larger diasporic story shaped by U.S. immigration policies that treated Cuban refugees uniquely. That policy—and the broader politics of asylum—is woven implicitly into the fabric of her personal story, reminding the reader that exile is never just a private matter, but always entangled with geopolitical forces.
Strengths of the Memoir
Poetic Prose: The beauty of Sheppard’s writing is one of the book’s greatest strengths. Her lyrical, evocative style makes memory palpably real, and her metaphors—especially the forest—are resonant and haunting.
Generational Storytelling: By centering three generations of women, Sheppard offers a powerful counter-narrative to conventional histories that often focus on male political actors. Instead, The Eternal Forest shows how women carry memory, trauma, and legacy.
Honest Treatment of Mental Illness: The book’s willingness to engage with grief, depression, suicide, and anxiety is courageous. Sheppard neither romanticizes nor reduces these struggles; she locates them in family and history in a way that feels compassionate and truthful.
Historical and Cultural Insight: Through personal narrative, Sheppard provides a textured portrait of Cuban history, revolution, exile, and diaspora. While deeply self-reflective, she never loses sight of the broader political forces at play.
Identity and Belonging: Her exploration of “Am I Cuban enough?” speaks to a universal immigrant experience—longing for home, negotiating identity, reconciling memory with reality.
Potential Limitations
For readers seeking a strictly chronological or policy-heavy history, the memoir’s vignette structure may feel fragmentary.
The poetically dense prose, while beautiful, may not appeal to all readers—some might find it too ethereal, longing for more concrete narrative.
Conclusion
The Eternal Forest is a stunning debut: a memoir that feels like a spell, a lament, and a reclamation all at once. Elena Sheppard has created more than a family history—she has summoned a liminal space where memory lives, where exile is both wound and inheritance, and where the ache for a homeland is carried, tenderly, across generations.
Her exploration of mental illness—through the tragic figure of her aunt Mariana and her own struggles with anxiety—adds an emotional depth that is not simply biographical, but psychological and intergenerational. This is not just a story about Cuba and exile; it is a story about how trauma travels, how we inherit spirits as well as names, and how we make sense of belonging when our roots lie in two places.
In a political era where the notion of asylum is fraught and contested, The Eternal Forest gently reminds us that the cost of refuge and exile is not only political—it is deeply personal. Sheppard’s memoir challenges us to consider how policies like “wet foot, dry foot” shape not only mass migration but individual lives, psyches, and families.
Ultimately, this book is a gift. For anyone interested in diaspora, identity, memory, trauma, or simply in beautiful, tender storytelling, The Eternal Forest is a profound read—both a tribute and a reckoning, a mourning and a celebration, resonating long after the final page.
From the very outset, Sheppard’s prose is lush and textured, suffused with metaphor and memory in a way that reads less like a conventional memoir and more like a tapestry or an incantation. The title itself, The Eternal Forest, captures the core of her project: the forest is not just a place, but a metaphor for memory, legacy, and loss. Sheppard describes how her life is tangled up in the past—“concentric circles on a cave wall, a name passed lip to ear, a whisper in the dead of night.” There is a magical quality to these sentences, but they are anchored by real pain.
At its heart, the memoir follows three generations of Cuban women—her grandmother Rosita, her mother Margarita, and Sheppard herself—as they carry the weight of home in their bones. Her grandparents, Rosita and Gustavo Delgado, fled their modest town of Cifuentes in the early days of Castro’s revolution with “nothing more than five dollars, and a suitcase each.” Their flight, initially brimming with hope that they would return, becomes permanent, freezing their Cuban identity in a moment of rupture.
Lush Language and Evocative Storytelling
What makes The Eternal Forest so compelling is its language. Sheppard writes in a voice that is at once conversational and incantatory. In passages recalling her grandmother’s recollections of Cifuentes in the 1950s, she conjures a nearly Edenic landscape: palm trees, rumba, sugar money, salt breezes. arts.columbia.edu+1 But this idyllic memory always flickers with shadows: of political tension, loss, and exile. Sheppard moves back and forth in time—with vignettes that feel like shards of stained glass, refracting personal and collective history.
This non-linear structure closely mirrors how memory actually works: not as a tidy, chronological narrative, but as a forest of stories—some wild, some pruned, others tangled, others lost. Southern Review of Books praises this “vignette structure … like an excavation of memory, an unearthing of its fragmented yet enduring nature.”
Mental Illness, Trauma, and Inheritance
A particularly powerful thread in Sheppard’s memoir is the exploration of mental illness in her family, and how trauma, grief, and secrets pass down through generations. Her aunt Mariana, haunted by unspoken pain, died by suicide—a presence that continues to loom over the family. Shelf Awareness+1 Sheppard does not shy away from the darkness: she reflects on her aunt’s “dark periods,” the inexplicable moments of despair, and the ways in which mental illness was misunderstood or ignored in her Cuban family.
At the same time, Sheppard is candid about her own anxiety. According to reviews, she connects her aunt’s suicide to other losses in the family—and to a broader, multigenerational trauma rooted in dislocation and exile. Shelf Awareness This is not a memoir that treats trauma as a footnote; instead, it gives trauma a place in the forest of memory, examining how grief shapes identity and how the weight of mental illness can live in inheritance as much as in genes.
Identity, Belonging, and Exile
Sheppard’s reflection on her own identity is deeply moving. As she has written elsewhere, she struggled with imposter syndrome around her Cuban identity—her surname is Anglo (Sheppard), her Spanish imperfect—and she often asked herself, Am I Cuban enough? People.com That question becomes a driving force for her work: she visited Cuba, traced her family's footsteps, recorded her grandmother’s stories, and waded into archives—all to understand her heritage on her own terms.
In her Latina Media Co op-ed, Sheppard writes that immigration “cleaves a family’s history into a before and an after.” LatinaMedia.Co The rupture of exile imposes a kind of duality: physical distance, yes, but also a psychic distance between what is remembered and what is lost. Her memoir becomes a conversation between those two worlds. Rosita, her grandmother, is for her a “portal to the past”; Sheppard records her at 97 years old, aware that memories are slipping away, and that this portal might soon close.
Historical and Political Context: Refugees, Revolution, and U.S. Asylum Policy
While The Eternal Forest is deeply personal, it is also political. Sheppard’s family story parallels the larger history of Cuba and the Cuban diaspora. Gustavo Delgado, her grandfather, was put on a list of “political undesirables” in the early years of the revolution—a designation that forced his hand. Macmillan Publishers Their journey to Florida is not just a family flight—it is part of the wider exodus of Cubans who left under duress, leaving behind memories, land, and often whole communities.
Sheppard contextualizes this personal history within U.S.–Cuba relations, not in dry diplomatic prose but in the emotional register of memory. While the book itself does not necessarily dive deep into detailed policy, the memoir implicitly touches on the fraught dynamics of asylum and refuge. It evokes how exiles like her grandparents came to the U.S., driven by peril and promise, and how their identity and legacy were forever shaped by that journey.
In doing so, her story resonates with the history of U.S. policies like the “wet foot, dry foot” policy—a policy (in place from 1995 until 2017) under which Cubans who made landfall (“dry foot”) in the U.S. could stay, but those intercepted at sea (“wet foot”) were typically sent back. Although Sheppard’s grandparents fled mostly by land (or in early decades, via other routes), her family’s narrative is part of a larger diasporic story shaped by U.S. immigration policies that treated Cuban refugees uniquely. That policy—and the broader politics of asylum—is woven implicitly into the fabric of her personal story, reminding the reader that exile is never just a private matter, but always entangled with geopolitical forces.
Strengths of the Memoir
Poetic Prose: The beauty of Sheppard’s writing is one of the book’s greatest strengths. Her lyrical, evocative style makes memory palpably real, and her metaphors—especially the forest—are resonant and haunting.
Generational Storytelling: By centering three generations of women, Sheppard offers a powerful counter-narrative to conventional histories that often focus on male political actors. Instead, The Eternal Forest shows how women carry memory, trauma, and legacy.
Honest Treatment of Mental Illness: The book’s willingness to engage with grief, depression, suicide, and anxiety is courageous. Sheppard neither romanticizes nor reduces these struggles; she locates them in family and history in a way that feels compassionate and truthful.
Historical and Cultural Insight: Through personal narrative, Sheppard provides a textured portrait of Cuban history, revolution, exile, and diaspora. While deeply self-reflective, she never loses sight of the broader political forces at play.
Identity and Belonging: Her exploration of “Am I Cuban enough?” speaks to a universal immigrant experience—longing for home, negotiating identity, reconciling memory with reality.
Potential Limitations
For readers seeking a strictly chronological or policy-heavy history, the memoir’s vignette structure may feel fragmentary.
The poetically dense prose, while beautiful, may not appeal to all readers—some might find it too ethereal, longing for more concrete narrative.
Conclusion
The Eternal Forest is a stunning debut: a memoir that feels like a spell, a lament, and a reclamation all at once. Elena Sheppard has created more than a family history—she has summoned a liminal space where memory lives, where exile is both wound and inheritance, and where the ache for a homeland is carried, tenderly, across generations.
Her exploration of mental illness—through the tragic figure of her aunt Mariana and her own struggles with anxiety—adds an emotional depth that is not simply biographical, but psychological and intergenerational. This is not just a story about Cuba and exile; it is a story about how trauma travels, how we inherit spirits as well as names, and how we make sense of belonging when our roots lie in two places.
In a political era where the notion of asylum is fraught and contested, The Eternal Forest gently reminds us that the cost of refuge and exile is not only political—it is deeply personal. Sheppard’s memoir challenges us to consider how policies like “wet foot, dry foot” shape not only mass migration but individual lives, psyches, and families.
Ultimately, this book is a gift. For anyone interested in diaspora, identity, memory, trauma, or simply in beautiful, tender storytelling, The Eternal Forest is a profound read—both a tribute and a reckoning, a mourning and a celebration, resonating long after the final page.
July 12, 2025
In "The Eternal Forest", author Elena Sheppard takes readers on a journey her and her family's past, weaving stories passed down by family members and her own extensive research over the time periods. Growing up Cuban-American in the United States, she has long heard tales of her family's beginnings in Cifuentes, Cuba and the long, complicated path that led the grandparents to flee the country due to the Cuban Revolution - all because her grandfather had run (but hadn't won!) for mayor in the years leading to Fidel Castro's rise.
While this work may be titled a memoir, it is better described as a literary exploration or rumination; Sheppard weaves in detailed historical research, references to other literature and writers, elements of fantasy/mythology, the stories her grandmother, mother, and other family members passed down, and her own experiences and perspectives. This is a complex work as she explores her own identity and the historical events that led to her own existence; the legacy of her ancestors - both good and bad - including the looming fear of suicide passed through the generations; and her return to Cuba as an adult as she meets the family and family friends that she has only heard about in stories.
The prose in this work was beautiful and transportive, and as someone who knew very little about the Cuban Revolution, it gave me a better grasp of the event both historically and how it caused the upheaval of life for many Cuban civilians during the time. I did struggle at times with the structure of this book; it doesn't follow a clear chronological format and jumps between time periods and settings frequently, which made it difficult at times to keep track of all the different characters and events. While I think it would have benefited from a little more organization of passages, it didn't detract from the work as a whole.
Very much a recommended read when "The Eternal Forest" is published in September 2025!
While this work may be titled a memoir, it is better described as a literary exploration or rumination; Sheppard weaves in detailed historical research, references to other literature and writers, elements of fantasy/mythology, the stories her grandmother, mother, and other family members passed down, and her own experiences and perspectives. This is a complex work as she explores her own identity and the historical events that led to her own existence; the legacy of her ancestors - both good and bad - including the looming fear of suicide passed through the generations; and her return to Cuba as an adult as she meets the family and family friends that she has only heard about in stories.
The prose in this work was beautiful and transportive, and as someone who knew very little about the Cuban Revolution, it gave me a better grasp of the event both historically and how it caused the upheaval of life for many Cuban civilians during the time. I did struggle at times with the structure of this book; it doesn't follow a clear chronological format and jumps between time periods and settings frequently, which made it difficult at times to keep track of all the different characters and events. While I think it would have benefited from a little more organization of passages, it didn't detract from the work as a whole.
Very much a recommended read when "The Eternal Forest" is published in September 2025!
July 2, 2025
I adored every sentence of this beautifully written, emotional memoir.
Elena Sheppard takes us along as she remembers her family's history. This includes the history of Cuba, the history of Cuban migration to the United States, and the history of her individual family members. While it is the story of her family, it is the story of many families who have to leave all they have behind for a better life, and the story of the new generations who are straddling a line between who their family is versus who they are as first, second, or third generation qualified Americans. She hits on themes of inheritance, mental illness, connectedness, identity, and motherhood. It is simply a beautiful story and it is even more beautifully written.
Admittedly, I am part of the Cuban diaspora and maybe I am not the most unbiased of readers, as I was deeply invested in this the moment I read the description. I loved it so much I didn't want it to end. A masterpiece, imho!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.
Elena Sheppard takes us along as she remembers her family's history. This includes the history of Cuba, the history of Cuban migration to the United States, and the history of her individual family members. While it is the story of her family, it is the story of many families who have to leave all they have behind for a better life, and the story of the new generations who are straddling a line between who their family is versus who they are as first, second, or third generation qualified Americans. She hits on themes of inheritance, mental illness, connectedness, identity, and motherhood. It is simply a beautiful story and it is even more beautifully written.
Admittedly, I am part of the Cuban diaspora and maybe I am not the most unbiased of readers, as I was deeply invested in this the moment I read the description. I loved it so much I didn't want it to end. A masterpiece, imho!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.
September 7, 2025
4 stars
Like any good memoir, the focal point here is on the life of the author, but there is so much more to this one.
Sheppard tells her story by incorporating historical information about Cuba, the treatment of Cuban people at home and abroad, and her own family's intimate experiences. These threads all weave together into Sheppard's story. What's almost more powerful than the content of the narrative is the style in which it is told. There's a distinct literary quality to this memoir that frequently had me more focused on the skill of this writer than on her content. I could imagine coming back to Sheppard for nonfiction OR fiction, and that's not a common thought for me. I really appreciate the seamless writing and mindful structure.
Mental health plays a major role in Sheppard's family. Readers who are sensitive to conversations about this topic and to mentions of suicide need to know that these are running themes.
I learned a lot about the author and also about some of the historical and regional content and very much enjoyed listening to this audiobook.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this alc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Like any good memoir, the focal point here is on the life of the author, but there is so much more to this one.
Sheppard tells her story by incorporating historical information about Cuba, the treatment of Cuban people at home and abroad, and her own family's intimate experiences. These threads all weave together into Sheppard's story. What's almost more powerful than the content of the narrative is the style in which it is told. There's a distinct literary quality to this memoir that frequently had me more focused on the skill of this writer than on her content. I could imagine coming back to Sheppard for nonfiction OR fiction, and that's not a common thought for me. I really appreciate the seamless writing and mindful structure.
Mental health plays a major role in Sheppard's family. Readers who are sensitive to conversations about this topic and to mentions of suicide need to know that these are running themes.
I learned a lot about the author and also about some of the historical and regional content and very much enjoyed listening to this audiobook.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this alc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
October 15, 2025
With being a first generation Cuban American, longing to see Cuba with my own eyes, and loving my moms story of coming to America in 1962 as a Pedro Pan kid…I love reading anything that has to do with it. I appreciate this book because it’s written from my perspective. I enjoyed the beginning in the end of the book were she shared history much more than the middle which was heavily on suicide and depression in her family.
The author (just like all of us) needs Jesus …The reason that she feels incomplete isn’t because they are exiled. It’s because she needs the shed blood of Jesus Christ to make her whole.
The author (just like all of us) needs Jesus …The reason that she feels incomplete isn’t because they are exiled. It’s because she needs the shed blood of Jesus Christ to make her whole.
October 21, 2025
Based on the title, I expected more about the diaspora. I have a keen interest in Cuba and wanted more. Find them mentally the book is about the family both stateside and in Cuba. It is not a great read and I don’t recommend it for either information about life in Cuba or the memoir about the various relatives. 2.5 stars
September 22, 2025
I appreciated learning more about Cuban history and culture, especially the history of immigrants from Cuba to Miami, through this family history.
August 23, 2025
The ghosts of our ancestors haunting our bones through our stories and growing diasporas. This is Elena Sheppard’s story that weaves familial history, Cuban history and folklore, and memoir to contextualize the experience of what it means to be Cuban American. The historical context highlights the various reasons people have been forced to create new identities on foreign lands. But a piece of Cuba is passed down through each generation. Yes, some of it is traumatic – but that is what Sheppard speaks to here. There is a lot to discuss when you consider the origins if your ancestor’s folklore and her ability to eloquently pass down generations of stories for her readers. If we are sharing stories – our ancestors can never perish.
I thoroughly enjoy memoirs that weave stories especially within a cultural context because it shows us the way identities are forged from these ideas. Sheppard postulates in her memoir “ghosts wait too” and some of these stories have been waiting for nearly a century to be told in this memoir. There are ancient roots to all our stories and dissecting them through a historical lens is a great way to express a biography and memoir. This is a story about her family but also Sheppard’s story. I appreciate the blend of the biographical and memoir that created this interesting historical piece of Cuban folklore. These are stories from a familial line spanning generations being told in The Eternal Forest. Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Elena Sheppard, and Netgalley for this advanced digital copy in exchange for a review.
Read more recommendations, ARC impressions, and reviews onhttps://brujerialibrary.wordpress.com/
I thoroughly enjoy memoirs that weave stories especially within a cultural context because it shows us the way identities are forged from these ideas. Sheppard postulates in her memoir “ghosts wait too” and some of these stories have been waiting for nearly a century to be told in this memoir. There are ancient roots to all our stories and dissecting them through a historical lens is a great way to express a biography and memoir. This is a story about her family but also Sheppard’s story. I appreciate the blend of the biographical and memoir that created this interesting historical piece of Cuban folklore. These are stories from a familial line spanning generations being told in The Eternal Forest. Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Elena Sheppard, and Netgalley for this advanced digital copy in exchange for a review.
Read more recommendations, ARC impressions, and reviews onhttps://brujerialibrary.wordpress.com/
July 4, 2025
Elena Sheppard's grandparents made the decision to leave Cuba for Florida in 1960 shortly after Fidel Castro seized power in 1959 and her grandfather Gustavo was listed as an undesirable. With them were their two daughters. The exile was supposed to be short, however it became more permanent. Elena was the first generation to be born in the USA in 1987, however Cuba would be a part of her upbringing and familial memories.
This is a book about Cuban history as well as the personal and family history of the generations of Sheppard's family (particularly the women) and it made for interesting reading. Sheppard provided me with an understanding of a country and it's history that I really knew nothing about. It is also a story about a family who was uprooted and split apart by a revolution and their subsequent exile and filled with heartbreak, joy, loss, love and reunion. I am also an immigrant so I could relate to some of it. The prose flows well and keeps the reader engaged with the story.
I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher as part of the Goodreads Giveaways program.
This is a book about Cuban history as well as the personal and family history of the generations of Sheppard's family (particularly the women) and it made for interesting reading. Sheppard provided me with an understanding of a country and it's history that I really knew nothing about. It is also a story about a family who was uprooted and split apart by a revolution and their subsequent exile and filled with heartbreak, joy, loss, love and reunion. I am also an immigrant so I could relate to some of it. The prose flows well and keeps the reader engaged with the story.
I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher as part of the Goodreads Giveaways program.
December 10, 2025
I have a few things in common with the author… I am also a first generation Cuban, who grew up in Miami and New York, who went to Princeton, who thinks about how I will possibly convey Cuban affinity to my very American child, and who wonders endlessly what life in Cuba pre -Castro was like. As I’ve started reading more about the Cuban diaspora, each book has helped me understand a little more about the history, the cultural and political context, and the smaller individual stories that define a community. For me, this supplemental detail has helped color in the blanks of my own life, as a cultural Cuban-American that will never be able to deeply connect with the suffering of those that were truly exiled (partially because I’m so annoyed of them hamming it up).
Elena’s story was in many ways familiar, in many ways not. I think this book must have been deeply cathartic for her to write, and tell the story of her family, and the clearly challenging psychological threads that tie them together. For me, unfortunately, the book spent a little too much time musing / completing stylistic flourishes on the fringes of the memoir, and the family, when what I wanted was something a little different, and probably a little more trite - what are the profoundly Cuban stories that make up life in Miami post exile, and what are the voyeuristic stories set in Cuba both pre- and post- revolution. I acknowledge that it’s a “basic” request, and I think I may have gone into this book with the wrong mindset.
If Elena were ever to read this, I would say thank you for telling the story of your family, I can’t imagine it was easy to do. It made me proud to see somebody else who is proud of their background in the same complicated way that I am.
Elena’s story was in many ways familiar, in many ways not. I think this book must have been deeply cathartic for her to write, and tell the story of her family, and the clearly challenging psychological threads that tie them together. For me, unfortunately, the book spent a little too much time musing / completing stylistic flourishes on the fringes of the memoir, and the family, when what I wanted was something a little different, and probably a little more trite - what are the profoundly Cuban stories that make up life in Miami post exile, and what are the voyeuristic stories set in Cuba both pre- and post- revolution. I acknowledge that it’s a “basic” request, and I think I may have gone into this book with the wrong mindset.
If Elena were ever to read this, I would say thank you for telling the story of your family, I can’t imagine it was easy to do. It made me proud to see somebody else who is proud of their background in the same complicated way that I am.
December 15, 2025
“The Eternal Forest” is an homage to Elena Sheppard’s family, particularly to her grandmother Rosita, to their lives in Cuba before they fled Castro’s new regime, and to the family left behind. Through extensive research, discussions with her grandmother and family, and her own visits to her family’s ancestral home, Elana regales the reader with fascinating insights about life in Cuba both before and after Castro seized power, both for the wealthy and the poor, and what life was like for those who left during the various waves of Cuban migration. As she says, the fourth wave, supposedly the last sanctioned by both the U.S. and Cuba, technically is over, but people are still coming in droves, having nothing in Cuba to sustain them.
Elana’s language is evocative and lyrical and extremely intimate, to be expected since she’s revealing intimate knowledge regarding family history. What shines through is the love that each family member has for each other and for the homeland they left behind, particularly as each year on Christmas Eve they continue to recite, “Next year in Havana.”
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advanced reader’s copy of “The Eternal Forest” to read prior to its publication. My opinions are voluntary.
Elana’s language is evocative and lyrical and extremely intimate, to be expected since she’s revealing intimate knowledge regarding family history. What shines through is the love that each family member has for each other and for the homeland they left behind, particularly as each year on Christmas Eve they continue to recite, “Next year in Havana.”
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advanced reader’s copy of “The Eternal Forest” to read prior to its publication. My opinions are voluntary.
July 2, 2025
Living under a dictatorship and miserable conditions, the author's family must leave their beloved home in Cuba, many friends, and relatives. Elena Sheppard takes us through her family history, and we see how difficult it is for her to separate herself from her genealogy.
The story takes us back and forth in time, inner feelings and memories pitted against global occurrences. A little poetic while trying to be accurate.
I found reading or listening to this on Kindle's text-to-speech feature less than ideal, even though I felt I followed the author's tale well. I would have loved it more with a narrator, preferably the author. One thing TTS does horribly is other languages. Even though Ms. Sheppard translates her few statements and poems gracefully, I would rather hear the language of Elena's life. Then again, I am not fluent in Spanish. I'd still need the translation.
I was lucky to get this copy from NetGalley.
The story takes us back and forth in time, inner feelings and memories pitted against global occurrences. A little poetic while trying to be accurate.
I found reading or listening to this on Kindle's text-to-speech feature less than ideal, even though I felt I followed the author's tale well. I would have loved it more with a narrator, preferably the author. One thing TTS does horribly is other languages. Even though Ms. Sheppard translates her few statements and poems gracefully, I would rather hear the language of Elena's life. Then again, I am not fluent in Spanish. I'd still need the translation.
I was lucky to get this copy from NetGalley.
October 10, 2025
eBook - 3 Stars
An interesting look at one family who fled Cuba [the book covers the time before and after they fled], as well as a semi deep-dive into the overall history of Cuba. It is also about the women of this family and how they've carried this family, kept the secrets, sadness, and memories, and how they also keep the family moving forward, while never forgetting "Next Year Havana", keeping the love of a land most now have never seen alive forever.
Audiobook Narrator - 2 Stars
The narrator was new-to-me and I have to admit I struggled with how she told this story. While her Spanish was perfection, the overall tone of her voice just didn't work for me, I struggled with connecting to the story, and it was overall disappointing.
Thank you to NetGalley, Elena Sheppard, Franki Corrzo - Narrator, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.
An interesting look at one family who fled Cuba [the book covers the time before and after they fled], as well as a semi deep-dive into the overall history of Cuba. It is also about the women of this family and how they've carried this family, kept the secrets, sadness, and memories, and how they also keep the family moving forward, while never forgetting "Next Year Havana", keeping the love of a land most now have never seen alive forever.
Audiobook Narrator - 2 Stars
The narrator was new-to-me and I have to admit I struggled with how she told this story. While her Spanish was perfection, the overall tone of her voice just didn't work for me, I struggled with connecting to the story, and it was overall disappointing.
Thank you to NetGalley, Elena Sheppard, Franki Corrzo - Narrator, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.
November 19, 2025
“A man makes a decision, and generations of lives are caught in the wake - buoyed to shore or drowned in a riptide. There’s no predicting which way the water will move.” Fidel’s Cuban revolution broke families apart and cast them to different fates. This beautiful, personal book chronicles how the Delgado family chose different paths, with the author’s branch moving to Miami and ultimately New York where they prospered. I loved traveling through the pages, back to the island with her in 2019 - I had gone in 2016 when everything seemed like it might change under Obama - and I could envision it all. The lack of food and medicine, the crumbling houses, the people grinding on despite Trump slamming the door closed again. But running through this book is also the strong current of family - the thing that binds the generations, bridges the miles, and creates a culture of belonging even in a diaspora.
September 28, 2025
This was a very interesting memoir that balanced Elena's family history with the larger experience of the Cuban diaspora. I appreciated how she described her development of her own identity as a Cuban-American woman. It was occasionally difficult to keep track of the various family members and their stories, particularly as she moved around between her grandparents and mother's generations. I believe some of this is due to the audiobook format, though Frankie Corzo did a great job. But some of the confusion was due to the way she jumped around in time. Overall, I particularly appreciated her experiences of returning to Cuba and attempting to reconnect to her family past. This is a strong, unique memoir.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an ALC in return for my honest thoughts.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an ALC in return for my honest thoughts.
September 30, 2025
Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader’s copy of The Eternal Forest.
Sheppard does a wonderful job of weaving the story of her family – in particular the women in her family – with the political history of Cuba and her family history before and after arriving in the United States. Her descriptions of her family history indicate the strong family bonds they have has transcended generations and countries. It was interesting to read about the family members, not just Sheppard’s immediate family members, but the weaving in of the extended family members. The importance of remembering and reflecting are told with detail, from myths and tragedies, to traditions and politics, made this a pleasant read.
Sheppard does a wonderful job of weaving the story of her family – in particular the women in her family – with the political history of Cuba and her family history before and after arriving in the United States. Her descriptions of her family history indicate the strong family bonds they have has transcended generations and countries. It was interesting to read about the family members, not just Sheppard’s immediate family members, but the weaving in of the extended family members. The importance of remembering and reflecting are told with detail, from myths and tragedies, to traditions and politics, made this a pleasant read.
November 1, 2025
First, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. I loved this beautifully lyrical book! It's the absolutely the best way to learn about Cuba and those forced to become exiles after Castro's regime too over. Sheppard prose is lovely, poetic in many parts and I loved reading her descriptions of her homeland and adopted country as well. The book is an intimate look at one family's experience living in Cuba before and after the Communist revolution and their flight to the USA.
Sheppard is masterful at developing the characters, particularly the women she focuses on so lovingly. I'm recommending it to everyone I know, and looking for others by this author.
Sheppard is masterful at developing the characters, particularly the women she focuses on so lovingly. I'm recommending it to everyone I know, and looking for others by this author.
December 22, 2025
Ugh I love when women ❤️
Part memoir and part exploration of Cuban American identity, the lasting impact of the Cuban Revolution and diaspora, the ripple effect of suicide in families, the importance of pursuing and preserving family history, and the strength of the many strong generations of women who often hold families together and keep memories alive. Epic, raw, and inspiring - I would love to read more by this author! While reading this I listened to the following podcast episodes to broaden my understanding of the Cuban Revolution: Real Dictators episodes about Fidel Castro, Empire 174. “The Cuban Revolution”, and the Rev Left Radio episode “In Defense of Che Guevara: Analyzing his Life and Answering his Critics”
Part memoir and part exploration of Cuban American identity, the lasting impact of the Cuban Revolution and diaspora, the ripple effect of suicide in families, the importance of pursuing and preserving family history, and the strength of the many strong generations of women who often hold families together and keep memories alive. Epic, raw, and inspiring - I would love to read more by this author! While reading this I listened to the following podcast episodes to broaden my understanding of the Cuban Revolution: Real Dictators episodes about Fidel Castro, Empire 174. “The Cuban Revolution”, and the Rev Left Radio episode “In Defense of Che Guevara: Analyzing his Life and Answering his Critics”
September 12, 2025
A gripping memoir covering generational ties to their homeland of Cuba. With a detailed historical climate pertaining to each generation, we gain deep insight into Elena’s upbringing in the States paired with her Cuban roots, family stories and a line of strong women leading the way.
Reading about escaping from a place that once was home and starting anew with very little choice for anything else is deeply isolating for many and some of the stories here are a perfect example. Longing for a home that changed drastically but never fully feel home in the country you find respite.
It’s a harrowing story but colorful and alive because of the people and their plight as well as their return to their homeland in an attempt to reconnect with what’s left and still reminiscent of what once was.
Reading about escaping from a place that once was home and starting anew with very little choice for anything else is deeply isolating for many and some of the stories here are a perfect example. Longing for a home that changed drastically but never fully feel home in the country you find respite.
It’s a harrowing story but colorful and alive because of the people and their plight as well as their return to their homeland in an attempt to reconnect with what’s left and still reminiscent of what once was.
September 29, 2025
It maybe “a memoir of the Cuban diaspora that follows one family’s exile from the island, through a lyrical exploration of memory, cultural mythology, and the history of Cuban-American relations, “ but it feels like home. While I am not Cuban, this book felt like I was sitting in a family member’s house listening to the family stories. It is something I have always loved, from my grandparents, to my parents. This book touched on the good, the bad, the scary and love. It is beautiful to be allowed in to hear (read) these stories.
Thank you St. Martin's Press and Net Galley. #NetGalley
Thank you St. Martin's Press and Net Galley. #NetGalley
October 7, 2025
As always: thank you so much to the author for her openness and truth in telling her story. Memoirs are so deeply personal and I’m always humbled when people put themselves out there like this.
The beginning of this one was heavy with Cuban history. I wasn’t sure about the info dump. But I was interested to keep going and I’m so glad I did. I loved the writing. She weaved in and out through time and was keeping record of her family’s stories. I just loved the way it was told. Many heartbreaking scenes. But an important way to keep their familial history. It was just so good. Beautiful. I highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC
The beginning of this one was heavy with Cuban history. I wasn’t sure about the info dump. But I was interested to keep going and I’m so glad I did. I loved the writing. She weaved in and out through time and was keeping record of her family’s stories. I just loved the way it was told. Many heartbreaking scenes. But an important way to keep their familial history. It was just so good. Beautiful. I highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC
November 25, 2025
What a beautiful memoir celebrating a family’s legacy. Sheppard becomes her family’s historian and recounts their life in Cuba, their exile to the US and what that has meant to all the generations that have followed.
Loved the author’s attention to detail and research. The chapter about her second trip to Cuba as an adult is especially touching.
Read this!
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and the author for providing a free copy of this book through NetGalley.
Loved the author’s attention to detail and research. The chapter about her second trip to Cuba as an adult is especially touching.
Read this!
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and the author for providing a free copy of this book through NetGalley.
July 12, 2025
I was really moved by Elena's book, and the care she took in sharing and unraveling her family's stories — and the complexities of being an exile. The beautiful language she uses to unpack Cuba's history makes it a pleasure to absorb. Definitely a book I'll be thinking about for a long time (and sharing with others).
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