"Medina writes with exquisite detail and manages to sustain
interest in a basically static situation. In particular, he keeps readers hanging
until the last page to explain how the youngest son died, which reveals
Amadeo's true nature. Recommended for public and academic libraries."
Library Journal

Amadeo Terra, former cigar-factory worker, is confined in a Florida hospital
after a stroke has left him paralyzed. His body no longer works, but his mind
is very much alive, as is his ruthless and audacious wit. His only human
contact is with the callous nurse who constantly scolds him, the orderly who
barely acknowledges him, and the nun who prays for Amadeo's salvation while
he fantasizes about what's beneath her habit.

One day Nurse feeds him mango from a baby-food jar, a departure from the
usual bland mush, and the taste of it on his tongue brings memories flooding
back of his life in Havana. Once a master cigar roller in Cuba and an imperious
patriarch of enormous appetites, Amadeo now confronts the long-buried facts
of his previously unexamined life.

The Cigar Roller is a hypnotic portrayal of a man compelled to relive his
worst failures in order to conjure his fairest memories.

Pablo Medina came to the United States from Cuba in 1960 at the age of twelve. He is the author of three novels, a memoir, and several volumes of poetry. He chairs the writing concentration at Eugene Lang College of New School University in New York. He lives in New York City.

Stefan Rudnicki has won the highest awards in the narrating industry, including a Grammy Award for production, the 2005 Audie Award for narration, and two AudioFile Earphones Awards.