Margot Pepper

Through the Wall: a Year in Havana Margot Pepper

Margot Pepper's memoir propels us through the blockade to post-cold war Cuba. It's a surreal world where high-ranking officials are required to pick up hitch-hikers. Root canals, cosmetic surgery and graduate school are free, but toilet paper is exorbitant. There's no income tax nor homelessness, yet no house-paint either. As the story unfolds, Margot pursues a passionate love affair with a penniless Mexican poet who shakes up her views about Cuba. With cinematic vividness, Through the Wall reveals the failures and successes of one of the few functioning alternatives to corporate-run government, and draws out lessons that will be embraced by all who believe another world is possible. Being a great read also helps! "From her unique vantage point as a journalist working for a year in Special Period Cuba, Margot Pepper has written a smart and politically sophisticated memoir. Interweaving her past as the Mexico City-born daughter of a blacklisted Hollywood producer! with the travails of her daily life in Cuba and the larger context of Cuban society in general, her work is imbued with her own political analysis and convictions and captures the feelings as well as the heartbeat of struggling Cuba during such a crucial time. Bravo, Margot Pepper, for writing such an honest and important work. ¡Punto!" [Piri Thomas, author of Down These Mean Streets]