by Lloyd Jones
First published 2008
Schmidt and Louise take refuge in a coastal cave on New Zealand's shore, joined by two local boys avoiding conscription into the Great War. In this hidden sanctuary, Schmidt begins teaching tango on the sandy floor. The dance lessons create an intoxicating atmosphere that draws the group together through sensual rhythms and intimate movement. Yet these passionate encounters will destroy lives and fracture relationships in ways none of them anticipate. Decades pass before Schmidt's granddaughter Rosa appears, running an Argentine restaurant where she enchants a young customer. The same seductive music that once filled the cave now flows through her establishment. Rosa carries her grandfather's legacy of tango, but also the shadow of betrayal and heartbreak that the dance unleashed years before. Two generations separated by time discover how music and movement can seduce, deceive, and devastate with equal power.
Genres: drama, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: New Zealand, Argentina
Period: Great War, Decades
271 pages · Paperback · John Murray
Content warnings: war