The Ballerinas: A Novel

by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

Overview

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 Léger 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250274236
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/07/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	227,647
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 5.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Rachel Kapelke-Dale is the author of The Ingenue and The Ballerinas, and co-author of Graduates in Wonderland. Kapelke-Dale received a B.A. from Brown University, where she rode on the varsity equestrian team, an M.A. from the Université de Paris-Diderot, and a Ph.D. from University College London. She currently lives in Paris.

Editorial Reviews

10/18/2021

Kapelke-Dale (Graduates in Wonderland: The International Misadventures of Two (Almost) Adults, with Jessica Pan) makes her fiction debut with a well-crafted thriller. When dancer Delphine returns to Paris after 13 years in Saint Petersburg to choreograph Tsarina for the Paris Opera Ballet, she desperately wants to reconnect with Margaux and Lindsay , her best friends from their ballet academy. Delphine has a secret, something she and Margaux did that ruined Lindsay’s life 14 years earlier. Delphine casts soloist Lindsay in Tsarina’s title role in an effort to make things right, but no matter how hard Delphine works, Tsarina falls apart. When Lindsay intentionally kicks her understudy in the face during rehearsals, Delphine is forced to fire her. To salvage the ballet, Delphine shifts her focus to Jock, an old flame playing the role of Rasputin. The more time Delphine spends with Jock, the more she realizes she and Margaux aren’t the only ones with secrets, and a potential scandal threatens to destroy the Paris Opera Ballet. Kapelke-Dale nicely explores the power of female friendship, a woman’s relationship with her body, and what it truly means to be seen. This one’s for fans of Megan Abbott’s The Turnout. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

One of the "Biggest Mysteries and Thrillers for the Rest of 2021" ––Goodreads

"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

"A standing ovation to this debut."
––E! News

"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

"You'll never look at ballet the same."
––Book Riot

"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

"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

"Deftly constructed and crackling with tension, The Ballerinas is a stunner of a novel, with electric prose and careful observations on loyalty, ambition, power, and rage within the crucible of intense female friendships. I tore through this unforgettable thriller."
––Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Never Here

"Wonderfully atmospheric, The Ballerinas is a twirling dream of a story."
––Araminta Hall, author of Our Kind of Cruelty

From the Publisher

07/01/2021

Delphine, Lindsay, and Margaux danced together at the Paris Opera Ballet until Delphine departed for St. Petersburg for a brighter career, carrying with her a secret that could hurt her two friends. After 14 years, she's back to choreograph, hoping to repair her frayed bond with Lindsay and Margaux but surprised to learn how much her old world has changed. With a 250,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

The complicated world of ballet is beautiful, brutal, and dramatic in this audiobook. Ell Potter offers a skilled narration from the point of view of Delphine, a dancer turned choreographer who is newly returned to the Paris stage of her ballerina youth. In her appealing British voice, Potter is crisp and capable with both exposition and dialogue. However, the overly long plot makes unpredictable time-shifts that can be hard to follow despite date labels, and these can interfere with the flow of the story. Similarly, some accents are inconsistent, unclear, or implausible, which can also give one pause; it might have been better to forgo specific accents altogether. Nonetheless, the story is compelling enough to hold one's interest, and Potter does a fine job overall. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile

The complicated world of ballet is beautiful, brutal, and dramatic in this audiobook. Ell Potter offers a skilled narration from the point of view of Delphine, a dancer turned choreographer who is newly returned to the Paris stage of her ballerina youth. In her appealing British voice, Potter is crisp and capable with both exposition and dialogue. However, the overly long plot makes unpredictable time-shifts that can be hard to follow despite date labels, and these can interfere with the flow of the story. Similarly, some accents are inconsistent, unclear, or implausible, which can also give one pause; it might have been better to forgo specific accents altogether. Nonetheless, the story is compelling enough to hold one's interest, and Potter does a fine job overall. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile