Heart of Tango
In a seedy quarter of 1920s Buenos Aires, Natalia, a young innocent Spanish immigrant, is promised in marriage by her well-meaning father to a much older Austrian seaman. Natalia obeys although she does not love the man. At her wedding, she dances a tango with Diego, a handsome stranger, and they fall in love. Knowing that their love is hopeless, Diego vanishes. Immediately after her unhappy wedding night, her husband returns to the sea and is reported lost, presumed dead. Natalia’s father dies; she is alone; where is Diego?
In 21st-century Austria, a man and a woman in different cities search out dance halls where each meets the perfect tango partner. Mysterious messages left in coat pockets draw the two separately to Buenos Aires and the house where Natalia once lived.
That the plot is melodramatic and predictable is irrelevant. Heart of Tango is a spicy soup of puzzles, coincidences and atmosphere. A ghost story that throbs with the steamy heat and smells of a run-down South American port contrasted with the rain and snow of a European night. Passion for the tango links the characters, although none is an Argentinian. Beautifully caught is the shabby dignity of immigrants whose dreams have faded into poverty and loneliness in an uncaring foreign land. Each character is rounded and believable, his or her actions dictated by the period and social demands of the time.
This is a strange, rich novel, fluently translated by David Frye from Spanish. It is short, which is just as well, because once having picked it up a reader may be lost in its passionate, sensuous yet real world, and will not want to put it down. An intriguing and impressive novel.
