The Ballerinas: A Novel

About the Author Rachel Kapelke-Dale is the co-author of GRADUATES IN WONDERLAND (Penguin 2014), a memoir about the significance and nuances of female friendships. The author of Vanity Fair Hollywood's column "Advice from the Stars," Kapelke-Dale spent years in intensive ballet training before receiving a BA from Brown University, an MA from the Universite de Paris VII, and a PhD from University College London. She currently lives in Paris. Product Description Dare Me meets Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive in a captivating, voice-driven debut novel about a trio of ballerinas who meet as students at the Paris Opera Ballet School. "Enthralling...irresistible." ––New York Times "A standing ovation to this debut." ––E! News Thirteen years ago, Delphine Leger abandoned her prestigious soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet for a new life in St. Petersburg––taking with her a secret that could upend the lives of her best friends, fellow dancers Lindsay and Margaux. Now thirty-six years old, Delphine has returned to her former home and to the legendary Palais Garnier Opera House, to choreograph the ballet that will kickstart the next phase of her career––and, she hopes, finally make things right with her former friends. But Delphine quickly discovers that things have changed while she's been away...and some secrets can't stay buried forever. Moving between the trio's adolescent years and the present day, The Ballerinas explores the complexities of female friendship, the dark drive towards physical perfection in the name of artistic expression, the double-edged sword of ambition and passion, and the sublimated rage that so many women hold inside––all culminating in a twist you won't see coming, with a magnetic cast of characters you won't soon forget. Review Praise for The Ballerinas:"The ways in which women torture their bodies in pursuit of creative dreams make for enthralling fictional drama. This terrain proves irresistible in The Ballerinas, a debut novel set in the hothouse atmosphere of the Paris Opera Ballet academy as three students grow up, compete, forge friendships and embark on a trail of destruction...Kapelke-Dale has thought through the larger picture, and examined how trauma and asymmetries of power derail so many dancers."––The New York Times"Echoes of Black Swan and part Luckiest Girl Alive"––PureWow"This highly readable, dramatic look behind the curtains is an unqualified success."––Booklist"A well-crafted thriller for fans of Megan Abbott's." ––Publishers Weekly"Deliciously observed emotional tangles"––Library Journal "The Ballerinas deftly uses the professional dance setting to explore the complexities of female friendships and the lingering impacts of ballet's patriarchal culture as it hurtles toward the bloody conclusion promised on the first pages."––Dance Magazine"You’ll never look at ballet the same."––Book Riot"There's something so tantalizing about the combo of the pristine nature of ballet mixed with the messy drama of a thriller." ––Nylon"A confident, enthralling debut...a stellar mystery."––Sun Sentinel“[A]n unflinching, unapologetically feminist glimpse into the world of professional ballet.”––Bookpage.com"Forever shaped by their friendship and the most grueling artform in the world, three friends navigate love, secrets, ambition and the pursuit of artistic perfection within the hallowed walls of the world’s most prestigious ballet school and company. Engrossing, deft and insightful, I loved The Ballerinas―from its provocative opening pages, to its blistering climax, to its exactly right final scenes."––Cathy Marie Buchanan, New York Times bestselling author of The Painted Girls and Daughter of Black Lake "Wonderfully atmospheric, The Ballerinas is a twirling dream of a story exploring the sacrifices and pain of creation, the shrinking of women and the pressure of always being on show." ––Araminta Hall, author of Our Kind of Cruelty"A dark and searing exploration of bodily aut