Here at last is the eagerly
awaited new novel from New York
Times bestselling author Gail Godwin. Queen of the
Underworld is sweeping and sultry literary fiction,
featuring a memorable young heroine and engaging characters
whose intimate dramas interconnect with hers.
In the summer of 1959, as Castro clamps down on Cuba and its
first wave of exiles flees to the States to wait out what
they hope to be his short-lived reign, Emma Gant, fresh out
of college, begins her career as a reporter. Her fierce
ambition and belief in herself are set against the stories
swirling around her, both at the newspaper office and in her
downtown Miami hotel, which is filling up with refugees.
Emma’s avid curiosity about life thrives amid the tropical
charms and intrigues of Miami. While toiling at the news
desk, she plans the fictional stories she will write in her
spare time. She spends her nights getting to know the Cuban
families in her hotel–and rendezvousing with her married
lover, Paul Nightingale, owner of a private Miami Beach club.
As Emma experiences the historical events enveloping the
city, she trains her perceptive eye on the people
surrounding her: a newfound Cuban friend who joins the
covert anti-Castro training brigade, a gambling racketeer
who poses a grave threat to Paul, and a former madam, still
in her twenties, who becomes both Emma’s obsession and her
alter ego. Emma’s life, like a complicated dance that keeps
sweeping her off her balance, is suddenly filled with
divided loyalties, shady dealings, romantic and professional
setbacks, and, throughout, her adamant determination to
avoid “usurpation” by others and remain the protagonist of
her own quest.
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