The Eternal Forest - by Elena Sheppard (Hardcover)

About the Book

In the tradition of The Yellow House and Half Broke Horses, a memoir of the Cuban diaspora that follows one family's exile from the island, through a lyrical exploration of memory, cultural mythology, and the history of Cuban-American relations.

Book Synopsis

In the tradition of The Yellow House and Half Broke Horses, a memoir of the Cuban diaspora that follows one family's exile from the island, through a lyrical exploration of memory, cultural mythology, and the history of Cuban-American relations.

History is undeniably dominated by its men, but the stories Elena Sheppard was brought up on were almost always about Cuba's women--everyday women, whose names would be forgotten and buried along with their bones unless someone took the effort to remember them.

Cifuentes, Cuba, in the 1950s was nearly idyllic--at least that's how Elena's grandparents, Rosita and Gustavo Delgado, remember the Eden they left. When Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, Gustavo was placed on a list of political undesirables, and by the end of 1960, the couple and their two daughters had fled to Florida, with nothing more than five dollars, and a suitcase each. The Delgados were certain they would return to Cifuentes within a few months, after Castro's reign had run its course. But they never went back, and a piece of each of their identities became frozen in that moment.

In 1987, Elena was the first in Gustavo and Rosita's family to be born in the United States, but through the memories that lived on in her grandmother's mind, Cuba became the foundation of her childhood. Elena takes us inside these stories, and as we travel back and forth across the narrow Florida Straits that separate Miami and Havana, we also weave between past and present, to discover family secrets that are on the brink of being lost to time.

In lyrical yet unflinching prose, The Eternal Forest follows one family's exile from their homeland and in so doing, it tells the larger political story of the Cuban Revolution and its diaspora. Through a spellbinding blend of cultural myth, historical texts, and personal narrative, The Eternal Forest seeks to understand the nature of inheritance, how trauma and memory are passed down through generations, and what it means to yearn for an island you can never fully know.

Review Quotes

"This poetic memoir weaves together Cuban history and family history into a tapestry that is both rich and threadbare. Sheppard explores it all--the dark histories, the hidden heartbreaks, the boats lost at sea--with generous curiosity and love. She has made her Cuban ancestors proud with this detailed, unflinching link in the diasporic chain." --Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of All Adults Here

"Entering The Eternal Forest is like diving into a magic ocean dominated by women named after flowers. Elena Sheppard masterfully covers the history of Cuba from the beginning of the 20th century through a family, divided by exile, loss and reunion. A tribute to abuelas. A read that will stay with you forever." --Armando Lucas Correa, bestselling author of The German Girl

"The Eternal Forest is a profoundly lyrical and deeply moving exploration of what it means to love, remember, and belong. From Che Guevara's mythmaking to the upset of exile, Sheppard transports the reader on an unforgettable journey that probes the power of place and displacement. This beautiful book overflows with soul and wisdom." --Bianca Bosker, New York Times bestselling author of Get the Picture

"Elena Sheppard's The Eternal Forest is an elegy and a summoning--an attempt to resurrect a lost world only glimpsed through a rusted keyhole, and a reckoning with how much loss saturated that world from the start. This is writing as spell-casting and archival conjuring, a story of second-hand longing, second-hand salt breezes, second-hand grief, full of worlds layered upon worlds, all summoned with lyric grace and an expansive, generous heart." --Leslie Jamison, New York Times bestselling author of The Empathy Exams

"Told in clear, luminous prose, The Eternal Forest turns familiar Cuban tropes of loss and yearning into a profoundly lyrical missive on multi-generational love, responsibility, and devotion. This heartrending family story within the exile narrative poses questions of personal loss and identity within the fraught history of the island itself." --Rosa Lowinger, author of Dwell Time

"The Eternal Forest is a wonderful extended meditation on the intertwining of past and present, and of exile and identity, written with poetic verve. Thoroughly Cuban and thoroughly universal all at once, this riveting text soars above genre distinctions with a beguiling voice and profound wisdom." --Carlos Eire, author of Waiting for Snow in Havana

"The Eternal Forest is a deeply personal excavation of a family in exile. Sheppard examines, with great love, layers of her family's history alongside the complicated history of Cuba. A book for anyone who ever wondered if they could go home again." --Sarah Ruhl, playwright and author of Smile, A Memoir

"Exquisitely written, poignant to the edge of heartbreak, The Eternal Forest recounts a very personal story of a very public decades-long diaspora and how choices made for us and before us haunt future generations. Sheppard describes the disorienting sting of exile with amazing insight and compassion. I read her family history as if it were mine, with a lump in my throat and a heat behind my eyes." --Ana Veciana-Suarez, author of Dulcinea, The Chin Kiss King and Flight to Freedom

"A layered, finely textured memoir. At the center of The Eternal Forest three generations of Cuban women struggle to reconcile their Cuban past with their American present. They make new lives which they must struggle to reconcile with longtime histories and long-lived griefs. The personal and the historical are always entwined. Where, this wise narrator asks, do immigration and exile narratives begin and end?" --Margo Jefferson, author of Constructing a Nervous System

"The dreamy quality of Elena Sheppard's poetic writing belies the nightmarish truth of exile. The reader feels cushioned by the beauty of her sentences while the heart is sliced open over and over again by the agony, sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, of her family's story, which is ours as well." --Mirta Ojito, author of Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus

"A moving, lyrical meditation on exile, family, and unimaginable loss. With the dedication of a historian and the voice of a poet, Sheppard traces the story of a family that--in its historical sweep--becomes the story of a gorgeous, troubled and ever-resilient Cuba. A testament to the power of memory and the ties that bind us to nation and tribe." --Ana Menendez, author of The Apartment

"Written with skillful assurance and a thoughtful, stirring voice, Elena Sheppard's The Eternal Forest is the tale of a family haunted by history. This beautifully-researched record of exile, journeys, and rebirth not only chronicles personal stories of survival and reinvention but also addresses the larger cultural and political forces that shaped the Cuban diaspora. Sheppard's evocative prose invites readers into the heart of her family's journey, making it a deeply moving tribute to the enduring power of memory, identity, and hope." --Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Fencing With the King

"In The Eternal Forest, Elena Sheppard weaves a lush and evocative tapestry of family, memory, and exile. Through the eyes of three generations of Cuban women, this memoir captures the tenderness, strength, and heartbreak that define a diasporic identity. Moving from the sunlit paseos of mid-century Cifuentes to the bustling neighborhoods of Miami and beyond, Sheppard explores what it means to leave a homeland and to belong to a history shaped by loss and resilience. In lyrical, intimate prose, she recounts moments of joy, pain, and enduring love, connecting past to present in an unbroken circle of mothers and daughters. The Eternal Forest is a tribute to the sacrifices of exile, the bonds of family, and the stories that make us whole." --Achy Obejas, author of The Boy Kingdom and Days of Awe

About the Author

Elena Sheppard is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Cut, The New Yorker, Vogue, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and W, as well as on NBC and MSNBC. She has been a writer-in residence at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and taught creative nonfiction and journalism in Columbia's High School Summer Program. She lives in New York with her husband and children.