Dancing to 'almendra'

On the same day that the Mafia capo Umberto Anastasia is assassinated in New York, a hippo escapes from the zoo. Assigned to cover the zoo story, a young Cuban journalist finds himself embroiled in the mysterious connections between the two incidents in this intoxicating story of murder, mobsters, and, finally, love.

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

Havana, 1957. On the same day that the Mafia capo Umberto Anastasia is assassinated in a barber's chair in New York, a hippopotamus escapes from the zoo and is shot and killed by its pursuers. Assigned to cover the zoo story, Joaquin Porrata, a young Cuban journalist, finds himself embroiled in the mysterious connections between the hippo's death and the mafioso's in this intoxicating story of murder, mobsters, and, finally, love.