Chanel Cleeton is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Last Train to Key West, When We Left Cuba, and Next Year in Havana, which was chosen by Reese Witherspoon for the Reese Witherspoon Book Club. She was born in Florida and grew up hearing stories about her family's departure from Cuba following the Cuban Revolution. During her time in England, she received a bachelor's degree in international relations from Richmond, the American International University in London, and a master's degree in global politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Chanel graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law with a Juris Doctorate. She has lived in the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia and enjoys traveling.