Antonio, a handsome and disillusioned bullfighter, secretly longs to release the wild bulls back to primordial freedom. Juan, a lusty, gentle peasant youth, has a gift for healing and burning passion to become the world's finest veterinarian. Together, these unlikely companions nurture an ancient tract of Spanish land while pursuing their fervent, radical dreams. When they discover their forbidden feelings, a brutal clash erupts with family, church, and the terrifying regime of Spain in the 60's. Only two people share their perilous secret- Antonio's fearless twin sister and the beautiful fiancée his family demands he marry. This new love story from the most popular author of gay fiction is a searing, stunning chronicle of turbulent Spain of the recent past, with a powerful message of the present.
From Library Journal
Warren, best known for The Front Runner, the ground-breaking novel about a gay athlete, has created another gay sports figure in her first work in four years. With his overweening machismo, the complex hero, a closeted matador at the end of Franco's rule in Spain, is never entirely sympathetic but always fascinating. He is aware of the political and social changes of the 1960s but must face the conflict between the demands of his aristocratic family and the traditions of his sport, on the one hand, and his growing love for an idealistic young peasant on the other. Warren's overly romantic style sometimes threatens to turn this into a romance novel. The depiction of gay life under a right-wing dictatorship and the start of the ecological movement in Spain are often more absorbing than the love stories. In spite of stylistic flaws, Warren tells an absorbing story, and his characters transcend stereotypes in a setting that will be exotic to most American readers. For gay fiction and larger popular fiction collections. Daniel Starr, Museum of Modern Art, New York
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