And this poem sets the tone before the novel starts…

Duende

Between ecstasy and despair

In that

Sliver of a gap

Is Duende.

From whence,

Comes the rap

The clack, clack, clackety-clack

Of the Flamenco tap

And cry.

Comprende?

Duende is the soul

As it is riven

As it is shriven

By the Dance

By the Song

That rips out

From the womb of non-being

And, as it is born

Calls Life to Life

Christening with a scream,

With an arc

Through blood

In passion

From black, then red

Then back to black

Clack, clack clackety-clack

Clack, clack!

Duende.