A vacation in Paris! It was supposed to be a glorious time to immerse herself in culture, go to concerts, visit museums and forget what she had given up. Instead, Malena finds herself in a seedy striptease joint, forced to witness female degradation. Her uncultured husband, insensitive to her needs, cruelly wants to shock and control her. Little does he know that this long evening under the blue lights will change their lives forever. When the tiny Asian woman on stage sinuously wraps her slender body around the sultry music, the two women silently experience an incongruous bond that summons memories of pain and repression, so different yet so similar. The Knots of Silence creates a labyrinth of emotions, regrets and doubts as three individuals struggle with their own identities and satisfactions. Written and set during the final years of Paraguayan dictatorship, this novel explores a myriad of problems stemming from cultures of oppression and authoritarianism. In a beautifully poetic prose, Renée Ferrer carefully explores universal topics of torture, exile, and psychological abuse as her characters try to piece together their broken lives. Power struggles of sex and silence are undermined by the constant throb and cadences of a sensual saxophone, until knots are untied and decisions taken.