Promenade of Desire narrates a young woman’s journey from repression to liberation in tandem with Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy. As the country transforms itself, the shy María Isidra evolves into the alluring Isadora, whose passion for books and salsa dancing sustains her as she discovers what it means to be lustful and loved and reclaims her whole self.
– Julia Scheeres, NY Times bestselling author of Jesus Land.
– Aaron Shulman, author of The Age of Disenchantments.
How do you make peace with the people who’ve hurt you, or overcome the shame of mistakes you’ve made? By understanding and accepting the light and darkness we all embody. I write memoir because I believe in the power of story to decipher and heal myself, and others.
While writing Promenade of Desire, I figured out the hardest riddles of my life: Why I kept sabotaging myself and the people I loved, what parts of me stayed hidden behind an impenetrable wall, and how deeply the roots of trauma infiltrated everything I did. I hope it will offer you, dear reader, some insights into the complexity of your own life, and encourage you to reclaim your whole, beautiful, imperfect self.
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In the last few months, with the darkness that has enveloped the world, I’ve felt a need to escape reality and indulge in guilty pleasures....
The repression inherent to any kind of authoritarianism shapes our lives even when we don’t want to. I know because I was born and raised under a dictatorship....
I was scared of what my husband would feel when he read my memoir, but it sparked deep conversations about my past and our relationship....
