The Cuban Heiress Society
Plot Summary
September 1934. The SS Morro Castle departs New York Harbor for Havana carrying hundreds of passengers seeking escape from the Great Depression. Among them are two women with deadly secrets — and a shared target.
Elena Reyes boards the ship under a false name, armed with a forged passport and a pistol. She is, in truth, Elena Palacio — a Cuban heiress who faked her own death to escape her violent, fortune-hunting husband Raymond Warner. Now she returns as a ghost to the scene of her suffering, determined to kill Raymond and reclaim her life.
Meanwhile, Catherine Dohan — a working-class woman who has reinvented herself as a wealthy orphaned heiress — boards on Raymond's arm as his fiancée. But Catherine's con is in service of Elena: once Elena's loyal housemaid, she has assumed a false identity to stay close to Raymond, protect his young daughter Ava, and help Elena deliver her revenge.
Into this powder keg steps Harry, a charming jewel thief who catches Catherine with a dead body on the deck the first night at sea. Bound together by blackmail, danger, and an undeniable attraction, Catherine and Harry navigate the layered deceptions aboard the ship — even as the real threat, Raymond, closes in.
Against the backdrop of Cuba's political upheaval, the echoes of Prohibition, and the creaking luxury of the doomed ocean liner, the novel builds toward an explosive convergence. When the Morro Castle catches fire on its return voyage, Elena and Catherine must survive not only Raymond's deadly intentions but one of the worst maritime disasters in American history.
It's the perfect hunting ground.
— Elena Reyes, Chapter One
Themes: Revenge, female solidarity, class & identity, survival, political upheaval, justice outside the law
Tone: Slow-burn thriller with romance; dual-POV alternating between Elena and Catherine
Historical Event: The real SS Morro Castle disaster (Sept. 8, 1934) — 137 confirmed dead, cause never officially determined
Verdict: A compulsive page-turner that turns a forgotten maritime tragedy into a story of two women who refuse to be victims
By Chanel Cleeton
In 1934, a luxury cruise becomes a fight for survival as two women’s pasts collide on a round-trip voyage from New York to Havana in New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton’s page-turning new novel inspired by the true story of the SS Morro Castle.
New York heiress Catherine Dohan seemingly has it all. There’s only one problem. It’s a lie. As soon as the Morro Castle leaves port, Catherine’s past returns with a vengeance and threatens her life. Joining forces with a charismatic jewel thief, Catherine must discover who wants her dead—and why.
Elena Palacio is a dead woman. Or so everyone thinks. After a devastating betrayal left her penniless and on the run, Elena’s journey on the Morro Castle is her last hope. Steeped in secrecy and a burning desire for revenge, her return to Havana is a chance to right the wrong that has been done to her—and her prey is on the ship.
As danger swirls aboard the Morro Castle and their fates intertwine, Elena and Catherine must risk everything to see justice served once and for all.
Character Analysis
The book's avenging heart. Elena survived Raymond's abuse, faked her death, and separated from her beloved daughter Ava for years — all to return on this ship and end him. A woman who grew up in privilege but was stripped of everything, Elena channels grief into ice-cold determination. Her greatest strength is her refusal to be a victim; her greatest vulnerability is Ava.
Survivor Calculating Fierce Mother Cuban IdentityA working-class woman of Irish descent who taught herself to pass as wealthy through books, observation, and sheer nerve. Once Elena's housemaid, she risks her life by posing as Raymond's fiancée to protect Ava and help deliver justice. Her arc culminates in reclaiming her real name: not Catherine, but Katie.
Resourceful Brave Loyal Quick-wittedHarry is a rogue of the old school — smooth, light-fingered, and hiding genuine feeling behind wit and deflection. He boards the Morro Castle on a heist of his own but gets pulled into Catherine's dangerous orbit after finding her with a dead body. His chemistry with Catherine is the novel's great delight.
Charming Morally Grey Courageous RomanticRaymond is the novel's monster in evening clothes — urbane, socially adept, and utterly predatory. A serial abuser and suspected murderer of wealthy women, he weaponizes society's protections of powerful men. He is most chilling when he is charming. His end — dying with Elena's face the last thing he sees — is perfectly calibrated justice.
Predatory Manipulative Dangerous The ThreatJulio occupies the moral backbone of the novel's Cuban political thread. He smuggles weapons for Cuba's independence struggle and becomes Elena's unexpected ally in the cargo hold. The ending hints that their friendship will blossom into something more in Havana.
Principled Revolutionary Trustworthy Quietly heroicAva is the silent engine of both women's bravery. Elena faked her death partly because Raymond threatened to use Ava against her; Catherine risked everything to ensure Ava's safety. The reunion between Elena and Ava — glimpsed through a bar door at noon — is the novel's emotional climax.
Innocent Beloved Hope The FutureAbout the author
Chanel Cleeton is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick Next Year in Havana, When We Left Cuba, The Last Train to Key West, The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba, Our Last Days in Barcelona, and The Cuban Heiress.
Originally from Florida, Chanel grew up on stories of her family’s exodus from Cuba following the events of the Cuban Revolution. Her passion for politics and history continued during her years spent studying in England where she earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Richmond, The American International University in London and a master’s degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Chanel also received her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law.
Other Books by author: CUBAN SAGA – Time setting:
- Next Year in Havana– 1958/2017
- When We Left Cuba- 1960
- The Last Train to Key West- 1935
- The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba- 1896
- Our Last Days in Barcelona- 1936/1964
- The Cuban Heiress– 1934
- The House on Biscayne Bay
![NextYearinHavanna_FCO_RW[2]+copy](https://btwthewinesbookclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/NextYearinHavanna_FCO_RW2copy-1.jpg)
Into The Book
The Book Trail
A geographical and narrative journey through the story — from the docks of Manhattan to the shores of New Jersey, with a ghost's return to Havana in between.
Both women board separately. Elena clutches a fake passport; Catherine clings to a borrowed diamond ring. Two plots set in motion simultaneously — and we know neither woman is who she claims to be.
Elena retrieves her pistol and meets Julio. On the sun deck, Catherine meets Harry, who delivers a truly atrocious line. Then a body goes over the railing, and everything changes.
Glittering dinners, stolen jewels (Harry), stolen glances (Catherine), and a nosy society woman who asks one too many questions. Raymond performs perfect charm while Elena and Catherine circle their quarry.
Brief but electric — the homeland glimpsed from shore. Cuba in 1934 simmers with revolutionary tension. The country is both a dream and a danger.
The captain dies. A storm builds. Fire tears through the ship at terrifying speed. Elena jumps and swims. Catherine jumps with Harry's life jacket. Raymond is shot — Elena's plan partially realised before chaos erupts.
The burned hull becomes a macabre tourist attraction. Catherine walks the beach searching for Elena and Harry. Raymond washes ashore — wounded. Elena finds him in the medical tent. Justice is served.
Harry sends a copy of The Thin Man to Katie's hotel with a note: "I'm staying at the Biltmore." She grabs her coat. Their reunion is desperate, emotional, and right.
Elena meets Julio. Katie arrives with Harry and Ava. Tears. Relief. New identity papers are arranged. Elena and Ava will return to Cuba under new names — to the island that was always theirs.
What to drink
Of course, Mojitos!!
Ingredients:
1 Slice lemon
6 Mint leaves
2 tablespoon of sugar
4 tablespoons of chinola juice
2 tablespoon of coconut milk
2 onz of rum
Ice + Sparkling water
Instructions:
Slice the lemon in a tall glass, add mint, sugar, smash it a bit. Then add juice, coconut milk, Rum, Ice and fill up with sparkling water. For decoration add Chinola and mint leaves.
What to eat
Ingredients:
2 pounds of beef brisket
1 Tbsp. of oil
1 chopped onion
¼ Cup of tomato paste
1 Laurel Leaf
½ tablespoon dried oregano
2 Cups of crushed tomatoes
¼ cup of red wine
2 red peppers chopped
3 crushed garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
Preparation:
Boil the meat with 1 chopped onion and pepper. When it starts to boil, cover, lower the heat and let it boil until is soft. Let it cool in the water. Remove, crumble and reserve the liquid where you cooked it
In a separate frying pan, pour the oil, add the onion, tomato paste, laurel leaf, oregano, crushed tomatoes, garlic, the meat cooking broth, cook until it takes consistency, add the meat and cook wine for 10 minutes and finally add the peppers and salt. Mix and serve.
Drink Pairings
The Morro Castle was famous for its open bar — one of the draws of the cruise during and after Prohibition. Pour something worthy of the voyage.
Elena is Cuban, dead, and dangerous. Her drink should be elegant on the surface and lethal underneath. A classic Daiquiri made dark with aged Cuban rum and a float of blackstrap molasses. Cold, controlled, with a bitter finish that lingers. The emerald garnish of a lime wheel mirrors her emerald dress.
Catherine drinks champagne because that is what heiresses do — but she was raised on nothing. Her drink is a French 75: champagne as performance, lemon as the working-class tang underneath, gin as the quiet danger. Simple enough to fake, complex enough to mean something.
Harry needs something confident and disarming — the drink of a man who could steal your watch while toasting your health. A Sidecar: brandy-forward, balanced by citrus, with just enough sweetness to make you lower your guard.
An authentic 1930s shipboard highball: blended Scotch lengthened with ginger ale over cracked ice. Something to nurse on the sundeck, watch the horizon, and pretend the world is not on fire — until it literally is.
Cuban espresso sweetened with demerara sugar whipped into the first drops to form a crema, served in a small glass. Intense, sweet, slightly bitter. The taste of home from a long way away.
Raymond would drink nothing but a serious Bordeaux — aged, expensive, flawlessly presented. A Cabernet-dominant blend with dark fruit and iron tannins that leave a metallic finish. Best avoided entirely, like the man himself.
If you ever decide to go to Cuba, belong some cruise recommendations:
https://www.ncl.com.mx/Cruceros-a-Cuba/Norwegian-Cruise-Line/5wzaq/
The Famous Cuban Cigars:
When Spanish sailors first explored Cuba in 1492, they returned with accounts of tall forests, chattering birds, and men and women going from place to place “with a firebrand of weeds in their hands to take in the fragrant smoke.”
Before long, Spanish colonists were growing and smoking tobacco too. As the demand for tobacco spread, the “weeds” became a profitable crop. Cuba opened its first cigar factories in the early 1800s. Today, cigars are still one of Cuba’s leading exports, shipped by the millions around the world.
1492 Columbus “discovers” indigenous tobacco in Cuba and takes it back to the Old World.
1511 Spain takes control of Cuba.
1614 La Casa de Contratatacion de la Habana formed to develop tobacco production in Cuba.
1717 Royal monopoly control on tobacco growing in Cuba imposed and vigorously enforced.
1817 Tobacco industry monopoly ends and a boom in cigar production export commences.
1898 The Spanish–American war brings provisional independence to Cuba administered by the United States. The American / British buy-out begins.
1902 Cuba gained formal independence from the United States on 20 May 1902, as the Republic of Cuba.
1920 Cigar making machines introduced into Cuba.
1959 The Revolution occurs (ousting corrupt President Batista) and Fidel Castro takes control of Cuba under a communist regime.
1960 Castro nationalises the Cuban cigar industry on 15 September 1960. For more detail, see below.
1962 Empresa Cubana del Tabaco (Cubatabaco) was formed and over one hundred export brands discontinued.
1962/3 The 1962 Cuban Missile crisis results in a USA embargo. Full restrictions are enforced in 1963.
1980 Cuban factory Vitolas de Galera names are reduced and rationalised. For more detail, see below.
1992 Start of Cuba’s Special Period, a near decade of economic crisis following the collapse of the Soviet Union (who had been propping up Castro & Cuba).
1994 Habanos Sociedad Anomina (Habanos S.A) created as the commercial (sales) arm of Cubatabaco. Cubatabaco retains control of all aspects of cigar production.
1999 Altadis S.A. formed by merger between Spain’s Tabacalera S.A. and France’s SEITA.
2000 Altadis S.A. purchases a 50% share in Habanos S.A.
2001 Tabacuba formed and takes over from Cubatabaco as the manufacturing arm of Habanos S.A. Internacional Cubana de Tabacos S.A. formed to manufacture & promote the Guantanamera brand and the various brands of mini cigars (mini, club, & puritos).
2002 A major policy change is introduced. Over the next five years, many low-selling vitolas are discontinued and all machine-made production switches to handmade. New release categories are introduced, emphasising limited volume special edition cigars. Technological and process improvements improve production quality.
2007 Altadis (a French-Spanish company) has accepts a bid of €50 a share from Britain’s Imperial Tobacco (valuing the company at €12.6 billion, for its 252,436,856 shares). Altadis holds a 50% share of Habanos SA. Fidel Castro’s illness triggers speculation of the end of the US embargo. This, combined with the pending merger, raises concerns among collectors regarding supply, quality and pricing of Cuban cigars.
2008 The final sale/transfer of Altadis to BIT finalised. Fidel Castro announces his retirement as President of the Council of State, and Commander-in-Chief. He remains leader of the Cuban Communist Party. His brother, Raúl Castro, assumes the presidency and implements various reforms in Cuba.
2010 Major figures in the Cuban cigar industry are arrested for alleged corruption. Although these allegations are never proven, it nonetheless results in a shakeup of the leadership of the Cuban side of Habanos S.A.
2019 Imperial Brands plc (Imperial Tobacco had renamed in 2016) announces that it is seeking bidders for its premium tobacco business, including its 50% stake in Habanos S.A.
2020 In April 2020, Imperial Brands announced that it had reached an agreement to sell its tobacco businesses, with the international portion including Altidas and the Habanos S.A. stake to be sold to Allied Cigar Corporation SL. Allied Cigar appears to be a holding company, the ownership of which is not clear. The sale closes in October of 2020.
Fun Facts
The SS Morro Castle fire of 1934 has never been officially explained. Theories range from arson by a disgruntled crew member to insurance fraud, sabotage, and simple negligence. The ship's chief radio officer, George White Rogers, was later convicted of murder (of different victims), fuelling speculation he started the fire.
Just like in the novel, Captain Robert Wilmott died of a heart attack the evening before the fire broke out — under mysterious circumstances. He had reportedly told crew members he feared someone was trying to poison him onboard.
When the burned Morro Castle ran aground just 250 yards from the Asbury Park boardwalk, it became one of the most visited "attractions" of the year. Vendors sold food; thousands posed in front of the wreck. Catherine's revulsion in the novel is historically accurate.
The Morro Castle's cruises became famous during Prohibition because passengers could drink freely in international waters. The ship was essentially a floating speakeasy — which explains its glamorous, party-oriented reputation in the novel's early chapters.
Cleeton's detail about weapons being smuggled to Cuba aboard the Morro Castle is historically grounded. Cuba's 1933 revolution and subsequent political instability created a real black market for arms running between Cuba and the US through commercial cruise routes.
The author grew up hearing stories of her Cuban family's exile following the Revolution. Her Cuba novels — including Next Year in Havana (a Reese's Book Club pick) — are deeply personal. The Cuban Heiress is her sixth Cuba-set novel and arguably her most thriller-forward.
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett — the detective novel Catherine reads aboard the ship — was published in 1934, the same year as the novel's setting. Harry's gift of a new copy at the end is a beautiful echo of their very first meeting on deck.
The epilogue is a narrative masterstroke. Raymond washes ashore believing he survived, wakes in a hospital bed asking for his wife — and then Elena walks in. His last conscious sight is the face of the woman he thought was dead.
The Morro Castle disaster directly influenced modern maritime safety regulations, exposing severe deficiencies in fire suppression, lifeboat drills, and crew training. The tragedy contributed to the SOLAS conventions that still govern cruise ships today.
Book Club Questions
Whether you're meeting poolside with Daiquiris or huddled over Café Cubano, these questions are designed to spark genuine conversation about identity, justice, friendship, and the fire burning through every page.
Both Elena and Catherine live under assumed identities aboard the Morro Castle. How does the novel use disguise and performance to explore the idea that identity is something we construct? Which woman's false self is more "real" than the other?
Identity & PerformanceElena and Catherine's plan is essentially premeditated murder — however justified. Did you find yourself fully rooting for them? At what point, if any, did you have doubts about whether revenge was the right course?
Moral ComplexityCatherine reflects that wealthy, powerful men like Raymond have "a way of wielding control over women" and that the police would never have believed Elena. How does the novel engage with the ways systemic power protects abusers? Does this feel as relevant today as it did in 1934?
Power & JusticeWhich of the two heroines did you connect with more deeply — Elena or Catherine? What does each woman's story reveal about how class, nationality, and circumstance shape what choices are available to us?
CharacterHarry is charming, morally grey, and ultimately heroic. He and Catherine are both schemers who recognise each other on sight. Discuss the parallels in their situations — and what the novel suggests about the difference between stealing jewels and stealing an identity.
Romance & MoralityAva — just two years old — is the silent motivation for nearly every choice both women make. How does motherhood function as a theme in the novel? What does Elena sacrifice for Ava, and what does that sacrifice reveal about her?
Motherhood & SacrificeThe real Morro Castle fire's cause remains unsolved. Does Cleeton's choice to keep the historical ambiguity intact strengthen or weaken the story's impact for you? How does historical fiction's blending of fact and invention affect your reading experience?
Historical FictionCuba in 1934 is politically charged — Batista's rising power, arms smuggling, Cubans desperate to escape. How does the novel balance its intimate revenge thriller plot with the broader historical and political context?
History & SettingThe novel ends with both women starting over under new identities — Katie reclaiming her true name, Elena preparing to return to Cuba as someone new. Is this a triumphant ending? Is there anything lost in their freedom?
Resolution & FreedomAt its core, this is a novel about female friendship and solidarity — two women who protect each other across class and cultural lines. What enables their bond? How does Cleeton suggest that women's alliances can be more powerful than the institutions designed to keep them powerless?
Friendship & Solidarity