Shelf Unbound October/November 2013 October 2013 | Page 32

novel thinking: spanish

Shelf Unbound: The Tragedy of Fidel Castro has a fantastical cast of characters, including God (who “does not
represent God”), JFK (“someone other than the American
president with the same initials”), and Fidel Castro (who
has “some similarities” with the actual Fidel Castro).
Where did the idea for this story and these characters
come from?

The Tragedy
of Fidel Castro
by João Cerqueira
translated from the
Spanish by Karen Bennett
and Chris Mingay

30

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013

João Cerqueira: Religion has played an important