In a true mystery style, “Last Seen in Havana” presents us with the story of a woman who had disappeared from Cuba decades prior to the present time. Her daughter, Mercedes, returns to Cuba to help her grandmother, the woman who raised her, and decides to investigate something that’s bothered her all her life: the disappearance of her mother. Author Teresa Dovalpage provides us with two narratives, Mercedes’ present-day account and her mother’s story, each chapter from her mother’s point of view beginning with part of a letter she had written to her best friend, Rob.

All her life, Mercedes has wondered why her mother left her in Cuba. Where did she go and why? But her grandmother has always been extremely reticent, refusing to talk about Mercedes’ mother, and her father had been killed in Angola during the war, so there was no one to ask about her mother. Mercedes had married a visiting professor from Miami and moved there with him. But he was killed during a trip to Cuba, and now Mercedes has been called back to help her grandmother.

Dovalpage offers us much information about Cuba as we see through the eyes and words of Sarah, Mercedes’ mom, how people lived. Times were hard. All these events occurred during difficult times for Communist countries, just before the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall and after the Mariel boatlift. Citizens in Cuba were literally starving; the stores were empty. Sarah shares the ridiculousness of the coupon system there, and while she was a fervent communist when she traveled to Cuba, seeing that kind of communism from afar is quite different than living it.

We see stores in which only foreigners can shop, and we see how intentionally making people stand in lines for hours for basic necessities keeps them busy and therefore not involved in protesting the political situation. And there are the eyes — people always watching their neighbors and ready to turn them in for subversive behavior or even just complaining about their lives’ daily difficulties.

As we learn about the hardships of surviving in communist Cuba, we also learn about Sarah’s life with her husband Joaquín. When Mercedes is born, Sarah realizes the impossibility of getting what she needs for the baby. There isn’t enough fresh fruit to make into baby food. And forget disposable diapers or even regular diapers. No stores carry them. While we are reading about that, we also see present-day Mercedes, who travels to Cuba with her best friend Candela, investigating what happened to her mother. Her grandmother isn’t very forthcoming, but bit by bit, Mercedes uncovers some information. The search is made more difficult because Sarah wasn’t allowed to keep her American name in Cuba, so Mercedes doesn’t even know what her mother’s first name or maiden name was.

Another important element in the story is the house in which Mercedes grew up. It’s a mansion with beautiful Art Deco style, and it’s filled with expensive furniture and bad vibes. The portraits are of people Mercedes never knew, and her grandmother refuses to sell anything, saying that those things don’t belong to her. Rumor is that a witch lived there, and the house is filled with leaks since the grandmother also stubbornly has refused to fix anything.

When something catastrophic happens, Mercedes is finally able to learn what happened to her mother. The mystery is solved, and the ending is touching and beautiful. But this novel is not just a mystery; it’s a cautionary tale about living under the iron fist of an authoritarian regime where the people have no rights, and neighbors spy on neighbors. No one knows whom they can trust, and even leaving the country is fraught with danger. When everyone in Cuba is hungry, the people will do almost anything for money, especially American dollars.

But we also see that there are people everywhere who are kind, generous, and compassionate, and who demonstrate the beauty of human dignity and decency. In Mercedes’ own family, there are those who understand and reflect those positive qualities, as well as some who would literally take a locket off your neck for a morsel of food. But kindness is, in fact, universal, and can be found everywhere, even in the worst imaginable conditions. Dovalpage provides an ending that is both heart-wrenching and heartwarming. The novel is a lovely piece of historical fiction that would engender some very thoughtful book club discussions.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.