Property of the Revolution: From a Cuban Barrio to a New Hampshire Mill Town, A Memoir was the FIRST PLACE/Non Fiction winner in the 2025 IndieReader Discovery Awards, where undiscovered talent meets people with the power to make a difference.
Following find an interview with author Ana Hebra Flaster.
“Winning first place in the non-fiction category is a great honor and comes at a perfect time—one month after Property of the Revolution’s April 22nd launch, as more and more readers are discovering the book.
I hope the book transports readers to a place they’ve never been and won’t want to leave: the multigenerational home of a Cuban family that lost everything to the revolution they’d once supported and reclaimed their freedom—and their lives—in a snowy New Hampshire town.
The refugee and immigrant experience has shaped us as humans, we are heirs to it. Once settled, it’s easy to forget who we were, where we came from. This book celebrates the courage and resilience behind that legacy, what it takes to survive as the “other” in a foreign land, to start from scratch, to live with the ache of loss and the power of hope as you build a new world for yourself and your family.
Mil gracias for your support and recognition!”
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Property of the Revolution: From a Cuban Barrio to a New Hampshire Mill Town, A Memoir. April 22, 2025.
What’s the book’s first line?
In our barrio, any kid worth her café con leche knew what the rumble of a motorcycle meant.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Property of the Revolution is about losing your home, family, and identity in the span of 24 hours and recreating yourself again out of cold, foreign earth.
It’s the story of my journey from a nosy six-year-old Cuban refugee to the proud matriarch of a 27-person Cuban-American clan. These are the vignettes of loss and laughter that fueled our rebirth as Cuban Americans in a snowy New Hampshire mill town. We bundled up and fed each other stories of our working-class barrio, of the saints and thieves and heroes we’d left behind. These stories—some of which have aired on NPR’s All Things Considered—anchored us, gave us a foundation on which to recreate ourselves.
I was the little immigrant that could, learning English by watching Gilligan’s Island, deciphering the culture in the lyrics of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Throughout the mayhem, my family’s goofy wisdom, especially my mother’s battle call of ponte guapa—make yourself brave—transfused me with strength when I needed it most. I grew hopeful, future facing—American.
But what happens when deeply buried childhood memories resurface and demand an adult’s reckoning? Here’s how the fiercest love, the most stubborn will, and the power of family put nine new Americans back on their feet.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
The viejos—elders—in our family were my inspiration. That generation gave everything up for us, so we could live in the liberty they’d enjoyed all their lives, until the revolution they’d once supported took everything from them. I wanted to honor their sacrifice and this universal story about having to leave home and everything you’ve ever known and loved.
As for an event that inspired me, looking back, there was a moment that first month in New Hampshire, snow all around, my grandmother crying all the time. I would draw her maps of the barrio to cheer her up. My mother came in to the kitchen once, when I was doing that. She looked at the map, at my grandmother’s face, and said to me, “Maybe one day you’ll write a book about what happened to us.”
I’d forgotten about that until just recently, when I started to wonder how far back I’d had this dream of writing this book. After I remembered what she’d said, I realized I’d carried that message with me all these years.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
I suppose I’m the main character. Maybe the closest fictional character to me is the child narrator in a Tree Grows in Brooklyn. When I read that book, a million years ago, I saw a lot of myself in Francie and her struggles.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
To go somewhere they’ve never been and won’t want to leave: the multigenerational home of a brave family that lost everything to a revolution but found the best of themselves—and America—in a small New Hampshire town.
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
Me: Zoe Saldaña
My mother: Rita Moreno
My father: Andy Garcia
My aunt: A very tan Shirley McLaine
My grandmother: a very tan Helen Mirren
When did you first decide to become an author?
I think if you’re born to write, you can’t not write. I think I’ve always had this story in me, and I’ve been telling it all my life.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I worry that I’m not writing.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
When I began working seriously on the book, I wrote almost every day, sometimes for six hours at a time. When I’m in that zone, I am unable to stop, even to go to the bathroom, drink, or eat. I have to watch out for those episodes because it’s very disorienting when I come back to the real world.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
Wondering if things would have been easier with a bigger publisher!
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Yes, to compare, to meet more professionals on the publishing side, to learn from them.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
As I said, I can’t not write. I wish I could stop sometimes. But then, after all the hard work and the isolation this line of work seems to require, I feel motivated by readers’ reactions. That’s what motivates me most. Knowing they’ve been moved, have learned something, and want to connect to tell me about it.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Tough to pick only one, and sometimes, it’s not all of the writer’s work, but just one knock-out book that I’ve treasured for all it gave me. Some that come to mind: Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls; Carlos Eire, Waiting for Snow in Havana; Abraham Vergehse, Cutting for Stone; F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby; Carson McCullers, the Heart is a Lonely Hunter (best first line ever: In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together.” Looks like I can’t answer this question!
Which book do you wish you could have written?
At this moment, I’m remembering Cutting for Stone.