The time is the early 1950s. The place is Cuba. The book is Graham Greene’s comic masterpiece, Our Man in Havana.
Set in post-World War II Havana, its main character is the slightly hopeless but likeable Wormold. He’s a British ex-pat and single parent living in Cuba with his daughter, Milly. Wormold operates a small vacuum cleaner shop and struggles to make ends meet, let alone cater to his daughter’s many teenage needs and desires. She, like many girls her age, oscillates between a bad girl and good girl persona, and true to the time and place, her more angelic side is devoutly Catholic despite her father’s atheism. It would be a scene for plenty of literary pathos, but for the intrusion of a mysterious character named Hawthorne.
Hawthorne shows up at the shop, browsing the vacuum cleaners, and then turns up again “coincidentally” at Wormold’s watering hole. There he appeals to Wormold’s need for money and loyalty to his country of birth, setting him up as a spy for the British government. When Wormold protests that his business takes up a lot of time, Hawthorne simply replies: “They are an excellent cover. Your profession has quite a natural air.” Hawthorne heads back to London and poor old Wormold, vacuum cleaner salesman and dad of a teenage daughter in sweaty Havana, becomes a spy. Secret codes, special ink, strange covert behaviour – and a good paycheque for his trouble. To report on… what exactly? Well, that’s not that important…
Throw in Wormold’s drinking buddy, Dr. Hasselbacher, a German with a hazy past and the intrigue deepens. Sort of. Wormold is a reluctant spy, to say the least. He’d rather focus on his life of mediocrity than actually take on secret missions recording the comings and goings in the smoky dark halls of Havana’s political centres.
So he makes it all up.
He recruits imaginary agents, some plucked from the papers and others from his own mind. He enjoys it, too, telling detailed stories and earning some extra money to make his daughter happy. Each agent he “recruits” pulls additional income, which goes straight into his own account. But as his reports become more elaborate, real intrigue starts to work its insidious way in. Strange events start happening all around Wormold and his little shop. Eventually, he’s sent a secretary from London, Beatrice, and the mess he’s created by weaving an intricate web of lies gets harder to cover up. All the while, he has to contend with real life: the local police chief, Captain Segura, a slick Cuban character who reportedly keeps a cigarette case made of human skin, is wooing his daughter, much to his parental dismay. But is Segura really interested in young Milly or just trying to keep tabs on Wormold? Where do Hasselbacher’s political loyalties lie, or does he care only about his Scotch? Who is Engineer Cifuentes anyway? And those detailed blueprints that Wormold sent in, the ones that look strangely familiar—what threat do they pose to the British government?
Our Man in Havana is a book that Greene himself described as an “entertainment”. The dialogue is crisp, funny, and real, and the situation, despite its slightly preposterous nature, is one you can definitely see happening. The book is also a snapshot of a time and place that doesn’t exist anymore, and Greene’s descriptions of Cuba’s characters and bars and streets are vivid and colourful. Like Hemmingway, Graham Greene is one of those writers who lived his literature. He was a spy for MI6. He was a Catholic. He travelled all over the world. And he was a fantastic writer.
Show playlist:
Up Bustle & Out - Made in Cuba Pt. 1
Slackers - Cuban Cigar
Tom Waits - Jockey Full of Bourbon
Beck - Girl
Up Bustle & Out - Organo de Bayamo
Paul Kass - Underground Agent
The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money
Up Bustle & Out - Los Locos Cubanos
Astrud Gilberto - The Girl From Ipanema
Jon & Roy - Cuban B
Up Bustle & Out - Coffee Contamination
Death Cab for Cutie - Champagne From a Paper Cup
Up Bustle & Out - Descarga con Cafe
Tom Waits - Drunk on the Moon
Cachao Y Su Ritmo Caliente - Oye Mi Tres Montano
Up Bustle & Out - Penalver El Hombre
Photek - Santiago
Manitoba - Every Time She Turns Around It's Her Birthday
The Clash - The Police Walked in 4 Jazz
Badly Drawn Boy - Imaginary Lines
Prague - Century of Fakers
Amon Tobin - The Killer's Vanilla
Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombone
Buena Vista Social Club - De Camino a la Vereda
The Acorn - Flood Pt. 1
Broken Social Scene - It's All Going to Break
Rheostatics - Nine a.k.a Biplanes and Bombs
Young Galaxy - Sun's Coming Up and My Plane is Going Down
Los Campesinos - 200-102
Portishead - Strangers
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - The Matador Has Fallen
Senor Coconut - El Rey De Las Galletas
Department of Eagles - Balmy Night
Buena Vista Social Club - La Bayamesa
The National - Runaway
David Holmes - 69 Police (Fourtet mix)
Cinematic Orchestra - Drunken Tune
Mercury Rev - The Happy End (Drunk Room)
Billie Holiday - I Can't Give You Anything But Love