Publishers Weekly
01/22/2024
Greenwood (Keeping Lucy) choreographs a gratuitous drama of three child dancers and their mothers as the girls compete for a prestigious ballet scholarship. Beatrice Henderson, Olive Chase, and Savvy Jacobs have trained together for several years at a ballet school in Southern California. On the cusp of their senior year of high school, famous French dancer Etienne Bernay promises one of these budding dancers a scholarship to Ballet de Paris Academie. The selection process, recorded for a documentary film, pits the girls against each other, alienating Beatrice from the other two despite her need for support after her father’s death in a surfing accident. Meanwhile, Etienne’s presence creates rifts between the mothers, too. During a night at a bar, one of them lets Etienne draw her close on the dance floor, to the distress of another, who later jeers, “When opportunity knocks, you answer, right? Invite it in for a drink and a quick screw?” In many scenes of similarly fraught interactions, Greenwood hammers excessively at the themes of cutthroat competition and desperation. This one doesn’t quite make the cut. Agent: David Forrer, InkWell Management. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
Praise for THE STILL POINT
“A sensitive and deeply felt love letter to the joys—and struggles—of raising a dancer. Authentic and propulsive." —Meg Howrey, author of They’re Going to Love You and The Cranes Dance
"Ballet moms—the women behind the scenes of every dance school, sewing costumes, buying pointe shoes, organizing carpools—are often caricatured, maligned, misunderstood. By focusing on the moms as much as the aspiring dancers, Tammy Greenwood gives the ballet novel a brilliant twist— uncovering new layers of drama, ambition and humanity." - Alice Robb, acclaimed author of Don't Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet
“Fans of Dance Moms and Megan Abbott will love this literary take on the competitive world of elite ballet training. With Tammy Greenwood’s firsthand knowledge of the subject, precise writing and well-drawn characters, The Still Point is an authentic and eloquent rumination on the ways that love—in all its forms—shapes our lives. Parental hopes, marital bonds, youthful passions: What does commitment mean in a life filled with inevitable changes?” —Zoje Stage, USA Today bestselling author of Baby Teeth and Wonderland
“A gifted storyteller, Tammy Greenwood instantly transports you to the cutthroat, brutally competitive, and beautiful world of ballet in this richly-detailed, expertly-plotted, absorbing tale of friendship, motherhood, passion, and dreams, found, lost, and found again.” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Overnight Guest
“With her meticulous writing and true-to-life characters, Tammy Greenwood takes readers on an intimate journey into the exclusive world of pre-professional ballet and the many lives affected by it. The Still Point is a must-read full of love, hope, desire and jealousy – a vivid, compelling and deeply nuanced look at a place where lives are forever shaped and changed.” —Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of Just the Nicest Couple
Praise for Tammy Greenwood
“Magnetic...This knotty story leaves readers reflecting on the limits of family obligations.” —Publishers Weekly on Such A Pretty Girl
“Wrenching…Beauty and tragedy at the same time, darkness then light—those are Greenwood hallmarks…she’s terrific with characters, with the multiple textures that make someone seem human on the page.” —The San Diego Union Tribune on Bodies of Water
“A thoughtfully rendered version of Sally, whose ordeal is shown for the proper horror that it was.” —Vanity Fair on Rust & Stardust
“A beautifully written, unnerving tragedy woven from equal measures of hope and menace.” —Booklist, STARRED REVIEW on Rust & Stardust
”Greenwood’s heart-wrenching, emotional roller coaster of a read also seamlessly captures the transformation of women’s roles in the early 1970s. A heartfelt tale of true friendship, a mother’s unstoppable love, and the immeasurable fortitude of women.” —Booklist on Keeping Lucy
“Greenwood is a writer of subtle strength, evoking small-town life beautifully while spreading out the map of Harper’s life, finding light in the darkest of stories.” —Publishers Weekly on Two Rivers
“Part family drama, part literary mystery and filled with beautiful, hypnotic prose.” —Bookpage on Where I Lost Her
”Greenwood is an assured guide through this strange territory; she has a lush, evocative style.” —The New York Times Book Review on Nearer Than the Sky
“Greenwood’s sixth novel, a tale of love and loyalty, owes its success to the poetic prose, as well as the compelling chronology she employs...This compassionate, insightful look at hope and redemption is a richly textured portrait. This gem of a story is a good choice for those who enjoy family novels.” —Library Journal on Bodies of Water
”A complex and compelling portrait of the painful intricacies of love and loyalty. Book clubs will find much to discuss in Tammy Greenwood’s insightful story of two women caught between their hearts and their families.” —Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Weird Sisters on Bodies of Water
“The love story that plays out between the two women—at times tragic, at times beautiful—is rightly taboo for the early-60’s setting.” —San Diego Reader on Bodies of Water
“I was captivated from the very first line…Greenwood’s moving story of love and loss, hope and redemption has stayed with me, long after I turned the last page.” —Jillian Cantor, author of Margot on Bodies of Water
“Stark, taut, and superbly written, this dark tale brims with glimpses of the Southwest and scenes of violence, gruesome but not gratuitous. This haunting look at a fractured family is certain to please readers of literary suspense.” —Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW for This Glittering World
Library Journal
01/26/2024
Seventeen-year-old Bea is a dancer. She and her classmates begin their final year at their elite dance school, preparing to graduate from online high school. Like many teens, they are looking forward to the next step in the journey. That means finding places in prestigious dance programs or companies. Dancing at such high levels requires determination—and money. As Bea returns from a summer program, she learns that there will be a guest teacher leading them in their winter production of The Nutcracker. Etienne Bernay is a famous dancer from Le Ballet de Paris, notorious for his behavior on- and offstage. Etienne also brings a scholarship for one student and a film crew that is making a documentary about the process of selecting the winner. The dancers and their parents strive to win this coveted spot in Paris. Amid rumors and insinuations and teenage angst, friendships shatter and re-form. One winner is announced. VERDICT This latest from Greenwood (Such a Pretty Girl; Keeping Lucy) provides an insider's glimpse into the world of elite ballet school competitions. Readers who liked Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies or Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid should enjoy.—Elizabeth Masterson
APRIL 2024 - AudioFile
Vanessa Johansson adds a youthful, energetic tone to this backstage melodrama. Dance moms and close friends Ever, Josie, and Lindsay-- who are the mothers of Bea, Savvy, and Olive--deal with critical personal issues, but each is always ready to do whatever's necessary to advance her ballet-dancing daughter. Johansson believably handles the heated competition to win choice roles among the girls, the duplicitous manipulations of the mothers, and the desperation associated with a coveted scholarship to the Ballet de Paris Académie. As friendships disintegrate, well-hidden and devastating secrets emerge. While Johansson's French pronunciation is uneven, she is spot-on at capturing the nuanced motives and double-dealings that resonate throughout the story. While these aren't likable characters, an able narration offers keen insights into the ballet world. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-12-06
The lives of three Southern California women and their teenage ballerina daughters are thrown into turmoil during rehearsals for The Nutcracker.
Ever Henderson, Josie Jacobs, and Lindsay Chase (mothers of Beatrice, Savannah, and Olive, respectively) have spent most of their daughters’ lives ushering them to and from the Costa de la Luna Conservatory of Ballet, where the girls have undertaken intensive training under master teacher Vivienne. All three girls, now seniors in high school, are preparing to fight for their last big roles in The Nutcracker. But when the CLCB announces that controversial 27-year-old wunderkind Etienne Bernay will be directing this year’s production and will select one dancer to receive a scholarship to the Ballet de Paris Académie, the always-fierce competition among the girls turns cutthroat. And Bernay’s arrival does even more to shake up their family lives. Ever, who’s still grappling with the death of her husband, hasn’t been able to write since her last novel failed, and this scholarship may be the only way she can afford to keep Bea in ballet. But while Bea needs the scholarship most, Josie and Savannah may be the only two prepared to do whatever it takes to get it. Meanwhile, Lindsay senses that her marriage is falling apart just as Olive seems to be losing interest in dance and, perhaps most concerning, spending more time with Savvy as her best-friendship with Bea deteriorates. As dark secrets lead to explosive revelations, all six of their lives will be forever changed. The author sometimes stretches things out, but the plot is deliciously propulsive, pairing the brutally beautiful world of ballet with universal human foibles that will keep the reader guessing at characters’ motivations to the end.
More twists and turns than a pirouette; readers will stay rapt till the final curtain.
