ABOUT
THE BOOK

In ‘Peel My Love Like an Onion’, the seductive and exuberant world of flamenco forms the backdrop for a classic tale of independence found, lost, and reclaimed. Like Bizet’s legendary gypsy, Carmen “La Coja” (the Cripple) Santos is passionate, mesmerizing, and often hilarious. A renowned flamenco dancer in Chicago despite a bad leg from a childhood bout with polio, Carmen has long enjoyed an affair with Agustin, the married director of her troupe – a romance that’s now growing stale.

But when she begins a new, passionate liaison with Manolo, Agustin’s godson and a dancer of natural genius, an angry rivalry is sparked, just as Carmen’s disease returns and her always-aggravating relationship with her mother takes a difficult turn.

How Carmen finally makes her way back to happiness in both love and work is a funny, spirited story that’s equal parts soap opera, tragi-comedy, and rhapsody – a triumphant, bittersweet novel about living life with ferocious intensity.