Liza Wiemer asked Aaron Hamburger:

Hi Aaron, I'm excited to read your newest book, Hotel Cuba. What was your inspiration?

Aaron Hamburger Thanks for that question! I was inspired by the true-life story of my grandmother who with her sister was running away from war and anti-Semitic violence in Russia after World War I, trying to get to America, but ended up in Havana, Cuba instead. What could that have been like, to go from a war-ravaged rural isolated wintry shtetl to sun-drenched Havana, where everything--the weather, the language, the food, the music, the customs--was so different! There were many Jewish immigrants like my grandmother who made this trek and they thought of Havana as a mere way station, a "hotel" as they called it, but I had to believe this experience must have left its mark on my grandmother's life and character, and I was excited to explore what that could have been. Doing the research for this was fascinating and the writing of it sheer joy. Wait until you read the book!

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