This is the second book by Shipstead that I have read in the past two weeks, by far her best, especially if you care about ballet (which I don't much) but I loved it anyways. It begins in the late1970's with two struggling ballerina's, Joan, destined to mediocrity but she loves ballet nevertheless, and Elaine, a cut or two above Joan but she will rarely make the lead. We see them struggle to get by, living together in a studio, Joan's bedroom a sheet over a couch in their living room. Joan is the center of the novel, Elaine a side kick. At a whim, or so we think, Joan jets off to Chicago in 1978, to see her ex high school admirer, the long suffering Jacob, who has not seen Joan in years. They reconnect, jump in bed together, and the book jumps ahead a year, and the two are now married, with a son, Harry, and Joan has obviously given up on ballet as a career.
The story then jumps backwards, to when Joan and Elaine first arrive in NYC, beginning there dancing careers. Somehow Joan becomes involved in the plot to bring Russian ballet prodigy Arslan Rusakov to the United States. Arslan latches on to Joan, writes her letters from the Soviet Union, and trusts her above anyone else. So she is asked to drive to Canada, to pick Arslan up, and cross the boarder between the US/Canada. She then shelters him in an apartment from the newspapers and TV for weeks until he's ready to face the new world. Needless to say, she falls madly in love with him, and he likes her, trusts her, but she's just another women in many ways who want to sleep with him. Eventually, he leaves her, distraught and angry, and goes on to become the toast of ballet, not only in the US but the world.
The story switches back to Joan, having left ballet and marrying Jacob and having Harry. They move to California, to live the life she feels fated to live, a Mom, a wife, not a ballerina. She makes friends with her next door neighbor Sandy, whose daughter, Chloe, becomes best friends with Harry. Slowly, Joan encourages both Harry and Sandy to take up ballet, starts her own studio, and over the years the two become partners, though Chloe tolerates Harry because he's a male ballerina, not a cool guy at school. This changes, however, when Harry wows various ballet schools, spends a summer in NYC, and becomes a prodigy, beseeched by his partners and Chloe seems to be left behind, as she grows and matures, without the typical stick figure ballerina body.
Then the story goes off the rails; we find that Harry, the next Arslan, was fathered by Arslan back in 1978, just before Joan flew to Chicago, to hook up with Jacob, now her husband. She begs Arslan not to say anything but Arslan ex wife finds out about his son, calls up both Jacob and Harry at the same time, and tells them the truth. As a result, Jacob leaves Joan, Harry deals with it though he worries about his father, Jacob, and begs him to come see him dance. The other twist involves Chloe; she ends up living with, then marrying Arslan, who takes control of her career and turns her into a ballet diva.
The book ends with a performance by the threesome of Arslan, Chloe, and Harry, attended reluctantly by Jacob, who had begged his father to attend. Jacob seats himself, only to find out that Joan, his ex wife has the seat next to him, arranged by Harry. The novel ends with Joan putting her hand on Jacob's and he does not pull back.
A good read, lots of ballet kind of stuff, interesting conflicts, a bit too coincidental towards the end but still a compelling read. I like the way Shipstead moves around, from one year to the next, sometimes going forward, at others, backwards in time, helping the reader to connect the dots. I recommend it.
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