Miguel Barnet's A True Story is based on the life of Julián Mesa, a Cuban living in New York City. The novel spans the years between the 1930s to the 1980s as the protagonist moves from Cuba to the US. Throughout the novel Julián, a building supervisor in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, recounts his life beginning with his early childhood years in the Cuban countryside and ending on the brink of tears as he dreams about an island which he dreams of seeing again. His account tells of the brutal work of the Cuban peasant in the sugarcane fields as well as the oppressive unemployment situation in Havana during the 1930s and 40s. Arriving in New York before the triumph of the Revolution in search of better opportunities, Julián struggles to keep Cuba alive within him through language, newspapers, social clubs, radio, and letters. A True Story highlights the Hispanic community in New York, especially the close relationships between Cubans and Puerto Ricans, and acknowledges the important events that took place in this city which are fundamental to the history of Cuba.

Prologue by José Manuel Prieto; foreword by Gabriel García Márquez.