<p> Based on the wildly popular, semi-autobiographical "Havana Honey" series published by Salon.com, <i>Dirty Blonde and Half-Cuban</i> is a gritty portrait of one woman's determination to infiltrate modern Cuba and find the father she has never known. </p> <p> While on her search, privileged American Alysia Briggs ends up broke and alone in Havana. She's then forced to adopt the life of the jineteras -- educated Cuban women who supplement a desperate income by accommodating sex tourists. </p> <p> With an eye for detail and a razor wit, Lisa Wixon relates Alysia's journey and creates a love song to Cuba, a heartfelt tribute to a resilient people facing soul-numbing poverty in a land where M.D.s and Ph.D.s earn $18 a month, and a pair of jeans costs twice as much. </p>