Twenty years ago, a Cuban bombshell named Maria stomped on musician Nestor Castillo’s heart in the Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, inspiring the fictional band’s greatest hit, “Beautiful Maria of My Soul.” In Oscar Hijuelos follow-up, Beautiful Maria of My Soul (Hyperion, $28), our heroine, now in her sixties is living in Miami with her daughter, gives her perspective on those balmy Havana nights.
