Promenade of Desire: A Barcelona Memoir
English
By (author): Isidra Mencos
Joyce Maynard, New York Times best-selling author of Labor Day, To Die For, and Count The Ways
María Isidra is a proper Catholic girl raised in 1960s Spain by a strong matriarch during a repressive dictatorship. Early sexual trauma and a hefty dose of fear keep her in line for much of her childhood, but also lead her to live a double life. In her home, there is no discussing the needs of her growing body. In the street, kissing in public is forbidden.
Upon the dictators death in 1975, Spain bursts wide open, giving way to democracy and a cultural revolution. Barcelonas vibrant downtown and its new freedoms seduce María Isidra. She dives into a world of activism, communal living, literature, counterculture, open sexuality, and alcohol.
And yet she knows something is missing. Longing to reconnect with her bodyfrom which she has felt estranged since childhoodshe finds a surprising home in a rundown salsa club, where the lush rhythm sparks a deep wave of healing. Transformed, she sets off on a series of sexual and romantic misadventures, in search for what she has always found painfully elusive: true intimacy.
Promenade of Desire is a rich journey into the life of a woman once contained, who finds a way to set herself free.