Carlos Bluhm leads the good life in upper-class Lima: He attends social functions with his elegant wife, goes out drinking with his three best friends, and has the occasional, fleeting assignation. Then he meets Maria Fernandez, a dancer at a tango bar in a rough part of town. The beautiful fifteen-year-old intoxicates him. An indigenous dark-skinned Peruvian, she represents everything his safe white world does not, and soon he can’t get her out of his mind. They begin a passionate affair, one that will destroy his marriage and shatter the only reality he’s ever known.

    Flash forward twenty years: Against all odds, Carlos and Maria have remained together. But when Maria finally presses for a formal commitment, feelings long suppressed erupt in a tense endgame that sends both of them hurtling toward a dangerous resolution that will forever alter their lives.
“Spare, unsentimental…. [A] finely tuned human drama.”—Publishers Weekly

"An erotic, catastrophic love story that grows more mysterious by the page, Arana's novel of taboo passion, tragic misperception, and life's hidden dimensions is as shattering as it is seductive."—Booklist, starred review

“Unflinching … compelling…. Intelligent.”—Library Journal

"Arana's prose soars with poetic imagery, evocative description and moving characterization."—Rocky Mountain News