Havana Fever (42 page)

As always, the advice of my most loyal, self-sacrificing readers was decisive, as they struggled with different versions of the manuscript, above all the absolutely key Vivian Lechuga and kind Álex Fleites, Elena Zayas, Dalia Acosta, Helena Núñez, José María Rodríguez Coso and Lourdes Gómez. My particular gratitude, as always, to Beatriz de Moura, for her confidence and insightful reading. And my apologies, because she had to put up with readings, depressions and doubts, to my loving wife (although I much prefer to say: to my loving woman) Lucía López Coll, my first reader, for whom I always write, with love and squalor.

BITTER LEMON PRESS

First published in the United Kingdom in 2009 by Bitter Lemon Press, 37 Arundel Gardens, London W11 2LW

www.bitterlemonpress.com

First published in Spanish as
La neblina del ayer
by Tusquets Editores, S.A.,Barcelona, 2005

Bitter Lemon Press gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Arts Council of England

© Leonardo Padura, 2005 English translation © Peter Bush, 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced in any form or by any means without written
permission of the publisher.

The moral rights of Leonardo Padura and Peter Bush have
been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs, and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British

eISBN : 978-1-904-73889-3

Typeset by Alma Books Limited
Printed and bound by
Cox & Wyman Ltd. Reading, Berkshire