Kiss of the Spider Woman

Kiss of the Spider Woman is a graceful, intensely compelling novel about love and victimization. In an Argentine prison, two men share a cell: Molina, a gay window dresser who is self-centered, self-denigrating, yet charming as well; and Valentin, an articulate, fiercely dogmatic revolutionary haunted by memories of a woman he left for the cause. Both are gradually transformed by their guarded but growing friendship and by Molina’s obsession with the fantasy and romance of the movies.

Manuel Puig is the acclaimed author of many novels, including Betrayed by Rita Hayworth, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and The Buenos Aires Affair. He was born in Argentina in 1932 and died in Mexico in 1990.