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.

Ana Castillo is the author of the novels 'The Mixquiahuala Letters', 'Sapogonia', and 'So Far from God'; the story collection 'Loverboys'; the critical study 'Massacre of the Dreamers'; and several volumes of poetry. She has received the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award, the Carl Sandburg Prize, and the Southwestern Booksellers Award for her work. She lives in Chicago.