Tango on the Plateau The Final Chapter of the Bridge over the River of Dreams

Author: (American) Waller / Zhang Jujuan / Ai Mei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: She is as substantial as grain, satisfying hunger; she is exquisitely beautiful, mysterious, and enchanting, becoming a man's homeland in both spirit and flesh. He, a skilled carpenter, merely touching wood makes women lose control. Such a romantically irresistible story is now hard to find. On the distant plateau, between the settlements of the Su people and the solitary mounds, amidst the slowly fading towns and the people disappearing within them, you can hear the wind singing. Behind the wind's song, an aging accordion hums a tango. If it's nighttime, you can hear the lonely low hum of a drum, as warriors wail in the distant past. Behind the wind's song, old and sawdust, sandalwood, and the smoke of ancient rituals, all exude a subtle fragrance. Caryl McMillan—the son of Robert Kincaid, the protagonist of The Bridges of Madison County—has a dual passion for carpentry and enjoying solitude. Caryl delves into the desolate town of Salamanca on the South Dakota plateau, buys vast tracts of land near the sacred Wolf Hill in the eyes of the Su people, spends a winter building a house, all to fulfill his dream of freedom. Gail Davero is enough to feed his body. Before meeting Susanna Bantien, Caryl thought this was all. In fact, Susanna's slender waist, wild brown hair, bracelets, necklaces, and herbal pouches easily stand out from the crowd. However, what truly sets her apart from the people of Salamanca is her seemingly untouched, primal beauty. The enigmatic Susanna—the witch in the eyes of the 942 residents of Salamanca. Just as Caryl believes he has truly settled in Salamanca, life becomes so perfect it seems unbelievable, until a planned highway cuts through his property, through the sacred Wolf Hill. In protecting his interests, Caryl uncovers a chain of dark links: the government, landowners, and a mysterious organization called "Aura." Strangely violent incidents occur one after another, reminding people of the turbulent history of Wolf Hill—Susanna's father, the famous archaeologist, disappears under mysterious circumstances, and a series of deaths occur. Critics have called Tango on the High Plains a "masterpiece by a literary giant of our time, unforgettable, deeply resonant, and impossible to resist."