"I stop my steps. I look over the lawn, which extends across the front of the building. Lilies and red carnations bloom in the flowerbeds, in contrast to the yellow of the sunflowers ... "

This is how Mujeres de la noche (Women of the night) novel begins, the work that right now is bringing joy to journalist and writer from Holguin Jorge Velázquez Ramallo, in the midst of all the streets and spaces of the town where he arrived with his wife Kathy 12 years ago.

And it is not for less this healthy joy: after battling with his novel for more than two decades, finally the prestigious editorial José Martí decided to assume the publication of this creation of Velázquez and deliver it to readers in a captivating edition.

But what is the novel of this impetuous veteran with white and lush hair about ? In the literary promotion program Fabulando con los Escribas, where he shared with the public and the authors Pedro Bernabé Lorenzo and Elda Álvarez Pino, he gave some keys and answers:

"In early 60s, I was traveling by bus," says the author . There I had the opportunity to talk with a former prostitute, who had joined a reeducation system when the triumphant Revolution decided to get rid of all the brothels in the country.

"The subject called my attention - continues the novelist - and I began a deep investigation on the matter.

I researched a lot about the lives of other prostitutes under this type of reeducation, about the brothel in Caimanera, always full of North American Marines, and about the so-called 'Zones of Tolerance in San Isidro, Colón, Pajarito and Aguacate Street', true dens where women sold their body to any client.

"It is terrible that Cuba has had a brothel in each town," Velázquez concludes, "and that a famous pimp like Yarini, could have become president of the republic if he had not died in a brawl out of jealousy."

Two special notes appear in Mujeres de la noche : one to Vilma Espin and another to the essayist and personal friend Sergio Chaple. For Vilma, for having always fought for the vindication of Cuban women; to Chaple, for giving him especially accurate suggestions when it comes to making a not so easy text.

With three thousand copies published and an invitation to a "release " at the next Book Fair in Artemisa, on April 4, at 10:00 in the morning, Mujeres de la noche is the proof of the persistence of a man who, at 92, still works with an enviable and, apparently, eternal energy.

The novel begins by talking about lilies, carnations and sunflowers in a particularly quiet environment. But it's just the beginning.
 
Elisa's long nightmare, without flowers or relief, is just about to begin ... as her hope and the beginning of her struggle for a fuller path in the luminous fervor of her country.

TRANSLATION BY LMMS