About the book
The Lacuna is the heartbreaking story of a man torn between the warm heart of Mexico and the cold embrace of 1950s America in the shadow of Senator McCarthy. Born in America and raised in Mexico, Harrison Shepherd is a liability to his social-climbing flapper mother, Salome. When he starts work in the household of Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo – where the Bolshevik leader, Lev Trotsky, is also being harboured as a political exile – he inadvertently casts his lot with art, communism and revolution. A compulsive diarist, he records and relates his colourful experiences of life with Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Trotsky in the midst of the Mexican revolution. A violent upheaval sends him back to America; but political winds continue to throw him between north and south, in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach – the lacuna – between truth and public presumption.
Reviewed by Wednesday Crew
Lovely writing style. May seem hard to get into but certainly worth the effort. Historically accurate and informative but not ‘heavy’. Great characters – memorable expressions.
Star rating ****
Hampshire Libraries 
Review by Alton Library- Thurday pm group
Disappointment for those who had read “The Poisonwood bible”. A couple gave up on it completely whilst others ploughed through it to the end simply because of the book group. Interesting bits – from the McCarthy witch trials. An interesting twist at the end but we all felt we rather waded through it.
* 1 star
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Review by Ems Valley U3A
We are in two armed camps!
One side found it tedious, repetitive with too many literary devices. The other enjoyed the descriptions of places, people, clever humour and the clever mix of fiction and non-fiction.
Star rating: **
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Review by WWW
Not an “easy” read but worthwhile. A really interesting story of a man’s life, gently told.
Star rating ***
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