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ON «THE OCCULT SIDE OF HAVANA»    It is made up of  four novels:  n Gata encerrada: Its plot takes place between 1985 and 1987.  n Casa de juegos: Takes place around 1988. n El hombre, la hembra y el hambre: Takes place between 1992 and 1994.  n La isla de los amores infinitos: Spans more than a century. Approximately between 1880 and 1998.       In these works, the city of Havana serves as point of departure for journeys to other worlds —magical or fantastic— which lead its characters to unexpected decisions or discoveries.        The stories they tell explore different facets of spirituality: regressions into the past, the world of gnomes and fairies, of Celtic magic, of spirits, seances and Afro-Cuban religions, and, of course, the search for God.       But the Havana in these novels reveals more than those occult, mystical worlds. This Havana also reveals the faces of a social and human reality, sometimes incomprehensible even to those who live in it. And it is precisely these experiences of daily life that compel its inhabitants to try to escape, to resort to all kinds of extraordinary efforts to liberate their spirits.        It is not by chance that the events that develop in these multiple faces of Havana raise doubts about the familiar, everyday world. These events represent the last gleam of hope for the characters in these novels, who share a singular tragedy: that of being distinct creatures, endowed with strong individuality, in an environment where they are forced to hide it. They know that when all else seems to fail in life, there is always the hope —dangerously suicidal at times— to resort to that magic, mysterious world, full of endless possibilities.