This book is based on a true story. Rio and Laura, two people from opposite backgrounds, meet in Havana, Cuba in January, 1961. A single, unselfish decision to help a stranger shatters their lives. The revolution they unwittingly helped solidify creates a powerful and myopic socialist government which tears them apart. Neither one of them is prepared to face the roller-coaster ride their lives become. Neither one of them could have imagined how much their love for each other would be tested, or for how long, or the impact their choices would have on their families. "The story is a classic, of young patriots caught up in a revolution and its aftermath . . . How does one live through something like this and not write about it? Many, I think, will be glad Betty Viamontes did. Her book has the texture of a sincere, honest work." - Andy Plattner, author, Offerings From a Rust Belt Jockey "Anyone who wants an inside view of life under Castro need look no further than Waiting on Zapote Street. Betty Viamontes has written a painfully accurate and wonderfully detailed memoir-novel of one family's struggle for freedom and reunion. From its opening shocks of loss and separation to its thrilling and emotional conclusion, Waiting on Zapote Street gives us a front-row-and timely-experience of a Cuban family's hardship, love, and enduring hope. -John Henry Fleming, author of Songs for the Deaf and The Legend of the Barefoot Mailman