Book Review: The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

Book: The Last Train to Key West

Author: Chanel Cleeton

Pages: 320

Read on: Kindle

Read in: ~4 hours

Plot Summary: 

In 1935 three women are forever changed when one of the most powerful hurricanes in history barrels toward the Florida Keys.
 
For the tourists traveling on Henry Flagler’s legendary Overseas Railroad, Labor Day weekend is an opportunity to forget the economic depression gripping the nation. But one person’s paradise can be another’s prison, and Key West-native Helen Berner yearns to escape. 
 
After the Cuban Revolution of 1933 leaves Mirta Perez’s family in a precarious position, she agrees to an arranged marriage with a notorious American. Following her wedding in Havana, Mirta arrives in the Keys on her honeymoon. While she can’t deny the growing attraction to her new husband, his illicit business interests may threaten not only her relationship, but her life. 
 
Elizabeth Preston's trip to Key West is a chance to save her once-wealthy family from their troubles after the Wall Street crash. Her quest takes her to the camps occupied by veterans of the Great War and pairs her with an unlikely ally on a treacherous hunt of his own.
 
Over the course of the holiday weekend, the women’s paths cross unexpectedly, and the danger swirling around them is matched only by the terrifying force of the deadly storm threatening the Keys.

General Thoughts: I've read and enjoyed (for the most part) the previous two books by Chanel Cleeton. She writes, with a lot of heart, about the immigrant Cuban experience and memories of leaving Cuba. I have reviewed Next Year in Havana and When We Left Cuba. 

Things I Liked: 

1. The Last Train to Key West tells the story of three very different women, both in terms of their personalities and circumstances in life. So, it is almost like reading three different, but, sort of, interconnected short stories, which makes the book pacy and very interesting. The narrative unfolds via alternating chapters from each of the women's points of view. These stories are set against the Labour Day Hurricane of 1935, one of the worst storms to hit the South Eastern US coast. So, there is an impending sense of doom and urgency, which the author has captured really well in the book. Each of the women's stories hurtle towards danger against the backdrop of this awful storm. 

2. The writing, like always, is very good. It is evocative yet economical- a balance that very few authors manage to achieve! 

3. Loved the three women protagonists of this book. Helen, who is heavily pregnant and in an abusive marriage. After yet another beating, she, quite impulsively, decides to leave her husband and head to her aunt's B&B on one of the smaller keys along with John, a regular customer at the café where she works. Helen is neither very fierce or confident to begin with, but the journey of actually leaving her husband and becoming a mother all on her own makes her stronger and more determined to reclaim her life. 

Elizabeth is an heiress, who lost her fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. She is in Key West to look for someone and is running away from a dangerous man in New York. Elizabeth is sassy, provocative and gutsy, but also vulnerable and unsure of what she wants to do with her life. 

Mirta is also an heiress, whose family has fallen on hard times after the 1933 Cuban Revolution. She has been married off to an American gangster and she is falling for him, much against her own expectations. She is trying to decide what kind of a wife she wants to be and if she is okay with her new husband's illegal businesses. Her journey is not the most interesting, but that is okay. I don't think such big decisions can be taken in a matter of days. 

4. The way these characters' lives interconnect is also nicely done. Some may say it is a bit too convenient in some cases, but, well, I put that down to literary license. I also liked how each of these women had a role to play in smoothing the path ahead for the other woman! Quite poetic! 

5. I liked the optimism and hope that embodied by this book! It's a very appropriate read for our world right now. We could all do with a bit of optimism and the promise of new beginnings and the belief that we can rise after this Covid-19 storm has done ripping through our world. 

Things I Didn't Like: 
1. I would've liked an epilogue to see what is happening in Mirta and Elizabeth's lives! That's pretty much it!

Rating: 4.5/ 5