La Ronde—“the round dance”—becomes a dance of life, drawing ten people into a circle of desire, ambition, and the longing to be loved.

 

From Manhattan’s dining rooms to a restaurant kitchen, from a California confessional to political circles, each encounter leads to the next—and someone always wants more than the other will give.

 

Aurelia arrives in New York with dwindling savings and hopes a wealthy financier is offering more than opportunity. Nuria wants freedom and a future for her younger sister. Bruno dreams of culinary glory and a woman he can trust. Carmen longs to feel chosen. Monica challenges the ways men diminish women, yet is disarmed by a politician who seems to understand her. Diana, accustomed to making powerful men look good, hopes a younger writer will finally see her clearly.

 

The men have their own appetites: beauty, obedience, influence, applause. Their tenderness may be sincere—until another person becomes more useful.

 

Sensual, witty, and intimate, La Ronde explores the distance between promises and actions, and the expectations women carry into relationships they hope will be different.

 

Set in 2018 and inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s Reigen, Andrea Fuchs Petzi’s novel traces a circle of affection and betrayal between New York and Los Angeles.

 

Someone takes the empty seat. And the dance begins again.