The Hotel Fakir is a novella in four parts. The image of a Cunard ocean liner unites the parts, offering a metaphor of escape and adventure that epitomizes our search for meaning and romance. Center stage is the Hotel Fakir, an ante-bellum Charleston mansion, now a tango salon that attracts those seeking connection through tango. Among them is Dolores, a tango instructor at the Hotel Fakir; Amancio, a White House aide; Ignatio Quiroga, an exiled Argentine general; and Max, a blocked writer who is seduced by the hypnotic cadences of Tango. Their interactions and obsessions color the story as...