Beautiful Maria of My Soul ─ Or the True Story of Maria Garcia Y Cifuentes, the Lady Behind a Famous Song

“Savor the mysterious power of a master’s pentimento.”

—Los Angeles Times

“It takes a lot of nerve and skill to pull off something as rich as Beautiful MarIa of My Soul, but pull it off Hijuelos does.”

—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“I fell instantly in love with the glorious soul of Beautiful MarIa of My Soul. Hijuelos has created and brought to life two beloved characters, a heart-stealing heroine and Havana during an epoch of changing fate.”

—Amy Tan, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club

In Beautiful MarIa of My Soul, Oscar Hijuelos returns to the passionate tale he began twenty years ago in The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.

MarIa is the great Cuban beauty who stole musician Nestor Castillo’s heart and broke it, inspiring him to write the Mambo Kings’ biggest hit, “Beautiful MarIa of My Soul.'” Now in her sixties and living as an exile in Miami, MarIa remains a beauty, still capable of turning heads. But while she left Cuba decades ago, she has never forgotten Nestor. As she thin