Rate this book

The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey To Cuba (2010)

by Margarita Engle(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0805090827 (ISBN13: 9780805090826)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

review 1: Margarita's Engle's "The Firefly Letters" tells the story of suffragette writer Frederika, who travels to Cuba from Austria in 1851 and stays with the wealthy family of a girl named Elena. While in Cuba, Cecilia, one of the family's black slaves, is assigned to be Frederika's translator and assistant. The story, told in prose form, alternates between the perspectives of these three women.I really enjoyed this book, and was surprised by how easy it was to become engrossed in the story, despite the fact that it is told in prose. For classroom purposes, students will need a significant amount of assistance in building prior knowledge about the political and social state of Cuba at the time in order to fully grasp and appreciate all of the story's themes. This book would be... more an excellent choice for discussing imagery, as Engle's prose weaves a beautiful tapestry of the lush landscape of Cuba.
review 2: I didn't like this book as much as Margarita Engle's other novels in verse as it switches POVs very frequently and due to the poetic structure, it was hard to keep track of who was who at the beginning. The character arc for Elena also felt more forced than it could have been with the plot - she seemed to jump from the traditionally-raised female viewpoint to liberal and abolitionist without much in the middle. less

Download links for: The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba

Advertising