NOVEL

Zurich, Spring 2010.

When an Icelandic volcano grounds flights across Europe, I am stranded in Switzerland, unable to fly home to Sweden. Rental cars, buses, and train tickets sell out within minutes. The airport presents a picture of pre-apocalyptic chaos. My mobile phone is dead. For the first time, I have travelled without a telephone charger – after all, what could possibly happen on a simple day trip to another European country? I don’t even have a toothbrush. And no one knows when the ash cloud will lift enough for commercial flights to resume.

I am sitting in a street café, weighing my options over a suddenly doubled-priced espresso. In the spring heat, my thoughts drift away from the practical challenge of getting home. What if someone in the airport crowd has to be home tomorrow because another person’s life depends on it?

In my handbag, beside my laptop, are two books: the memoir of a legendary hard-rock singer – remarkably still alive, considering his lifestyle – and a journalist’s account of the Balkan War. A surreal combination, perhaps. Or maybe not. Life has its own – often surreal – way of bringing together people and stories that seem to have nothing in common. The last message on my now-silent phone is from a longtime friend: she has started dancing tango again.

Before the coffee gets cold, Rita and Martin step into my imagination, and Three to Tango begins.

*   *   *

Though the story arrived quickly, it needed time to mature. Returning to the manuscript years later felt like continuing a conversation that had never truly ended.

At its heart, Three to Tango is about the way the past travels with us, and how music, movement, and unexpected encounters can change the direction of a life.

I hope you enjoy spending time with Rita and Martin as much as I enjoyed bringing their story to life.

// Anna Rikko