FICTION. . . "CUBA AND THE NIGHT

" Travel writer andTIME essayist Pico Iyer's first novel portrays a Cuba where, when the sun goes down, principles crumble, loyalties falter and certainties dissolve. The story is of Richard, an American photographer who, over the course of five visits to Cuba starting in 1987, becomes progressively more embroiled in the mysteries and frustrations of the place. Chief among these is a Cuban girl named Lourdes, with whom Richard falls in love, and who is desparate to leave the island. TIME book reviewer William Boyd calls "Cuba and the Night" a "fine, rich and heady first novel."