Cuba diaries

the long version

"Isadora Tattlin is the American wife of a European energy consultant posted to Havana in the 1990s. Wisely, the witty Mrs. Tattlin began a diary the day her husband informed her of their new assignment. One of the first entries is her shopping list of things to take, including six gallons of shampoo. For although the Tattlins were provided with a big, wonderful house in Havana, complete with a staff of seven, there wasn't much else money could buy in a country whose shelves were nearly bare.". "The record of her daily life in Cuba raising her two small children, entertaining her husband's clients (among them, Fidel Castro himself), and contending with chronic shortages of, well ... everything (on the street, tourists are hounded not for money but for soap) is literally stunning."--BOOK JACKET.