Trip Fiction: The Gods of Tango by Carolina de Robertis

I started reading this book, which opens with our main character Leda arriving by ship to Buenos Aires, at the exact moment I was arriving by ship to Buenos Aires! Maybe that impacted the connection I felt with this character, but I was right there with her until the final page. It is a story of reinvention.  Leda  has sailed from Sicily to join her new husband. She carries with her a violin, a gift she is to pass on to her husband from her grandfather, who tells her it once belonged to the King of Sicily. He also lays this amazing advice on her:

“All it takes is for your enemies to join forces with your unlucky stars and then suddenly there you are, encircled, nowhere to run and what is there left for you to do? I’ll tell you whats left: a simple choice. Either you can die right there or you can flee to another land and start another life with nothing but your skin and what’s inside of it.”.

When Leda arrives she discovers her husband has been killed. She’s alone in a culture that penalizes women, especially ones who don’t have a man standing at the ready to defend and provide for them. Through necessity she clads herself in her dead husband’s clothes, claims the violin for herself and begins her adventure in the world of Argentine Tango. Put a little tango music on in the background as you read this and you’ll be transported to a fascinating time and place. I carried the nuances of this story with met throughout my stay in Argentina and Uruguay.  Great pick.

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Have you read this book? Love it/hated it? Read other good books set in Ecuador or have fun travel/fiction stories from there? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below