An unlikely love story and lyrical tribute to Latin music by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Mambo Kings. Loosely based on a real-life Cuban composer, Hijuelos spins a tale of Israel Levis, a composer whose 1928 song, a Rumba, took the world by storm -- and propelled him from Havana to 1930s Paris and, ultimately, Buchenwald (and back to Cuba). He captures the heyday of Cuban music, and the longing, frustration and failed ambition of his complex protagonist.  (CBA72, $13.95)