From Cuba to Greeneland

In 1988, anticipating my first visit to Soviet Tallinn, I wrote to Greene asking why he moved Our Man in Havana from Estonia in the 1930s to Cuba in the 1950s. Christopher Hull, a lecturer in Spanish and Latin American studies at the University of Chester, argues convincingly in his fascinating exploration of the history behind Greene’s satirical spy novel that Wormold’s character borrowed from both Leslie and Greene’s “black sheep” elder brother Herbert, a fantasist who consorted with remittance men, confidence-tricksters and other compromised characters who inhabit “Greene-land”. Our Man Down in Havana: The Story Behind Graham Greene’s Cold War Spy Novel

Christopher Hull

Pegasus Books, 352pp, £19.99

Source: www.newstatesman.com