Description
Review "Nellie Bennett's lust for adventure infuses this book with passion and joy." - Rita Golden Gelman, author of Tales of a Female Nomad"A vivid, entertaining memoir... Bennett had me itching to pack my bag and join her." - Ann Vanderhoof, author of An Embarrassment of Mangoes and The Spice Necklace"A peripatetic Australian's account of how a flamenco dancing hobby led to high adventures in music, food and love in Spain... Lightweight, footloose good fun." - Kirkus Reviews Product Description Why don't' you...run away with the gypsies?Ten-hour shifts in a high-end department store and catering to snooty customers...Nellie Bennett's life wasn't supposed to turn out this way. But maybe all she needs to do is infuse a little passion into her routine―through flamenco dance lessons, for instance.What Nellie doesn't realize is that flamenco is not just a dance―it's a way of life that seems much more enticing than her depressing retail gig. So she packs her suede dance shoes and leaves everything she knows behind, flying halfway around the world to seek the authentic experience in Seville, where the dark-eyed gypsy boys and mouth-watering tapas are enough to make Nellie want to stay in Spain forever. And why shouldn't she?Only in Spain is a foot-stomping, full-on firecracker of a memoir―crackling with energy, food, dance, gypsies, and love―that will capture your heart with the first "Olé!""A vivid, entertaining memoir...Bennett had me itching to pack my bag and join her."―Ann Vanderhoof, author of An Embarrassment of Mangoes and The Spice Necklace From Booklist Why don’t you? This simple question took Nellie Bennett to a new life halfway around the world, as recounted in her frothy and fun memoir. A shopgirl at an Australian department store, Bennett is seduced by the charms of Spain as she studies flamenco dancing in Seville. But when she moves to Madrid for more dance classes, alone and broke, she finds life isn’t all orange blossoms and late-night dancing. Bennett is endearingly forthright about her foibles and shortcomings. Her sincere love for the enthusiastic Spanish culture embodied in the expression toma que toma (roughly “take it, take it”) overrides the sometimes clichéd aspects of her storytelling, such as her focus on the liquid dark eyes of the handsome Spanish men. Although she has her flirtations and finds romance, at its core this is a love story about a dance, a country, and an approach to life. Similar to Eat, Pray, Love, but on a less ambitious scale, Only in Spain celebrates the possibilities that arise when, instead of “Why?” one asks, “Why not?” --Bridget Thoreson About the Author Nellie Bennett grew up in Sydney, Australia. When she was in her early twenties Nellie discovered flamenco dance and travelled to Spain to further her studies at the birthplace of flamenco, Seville. She soon fell in love with all things Spanish, and moved to Madrid, where she learnt to dance from the neighborhood gypsies. Nellie has worked as a screenwriter in both Australia and Bollywood, and contributed feature articles to The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald. Her interests include Spanish history and culture, and regional languages.