SOUTH WALES EVENING POST BOOK COLUMN SEPT 10TH-11TH

My children's books this week for The South Wales Evening Post include a return to the feisty Lois Lane of Superman fame, an encyclopedia must have for young minds, doodles to celebrate Roald Dahl's centenary and an adventurous secret passion for baking,  great for fans of the Great British Bake Off.  All in the Weekend Magazine Section. Enjoy! 

BOOK OF THE WEEK

DOUBLE DOWN BY GWENDA BOND
YOUNG ADULT 13+
Lois Lane is back on the case. Being a huge fan of Superman I loved this reimagining of her teenage years. An army brat in a new school with a secret pen pal called 'SmallvilleGuy' and a job at the local rag, The Daily Planet, this has all the ingredients to keep fans happy. In her second adventure Lois is catapulted into a dangerous mystery of greed, politics and revenge. Precocious and sassy.
ISBN 9781782023692 PB Curious Fox £6.99
5/5 Stars

MY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF VERY IMPORTANT THINGS
CHILDRENS 4+
Inquisitive little learners always need a book of extremely useful facts for all those niggling questions about the world around them. Look no further because this will certainly take them on an educational journey of discovery through different cultures, people and places which will set young minds alight. Brimming with facts and figures alongside an array of photos and colour illustrations this is a brilliant addition to a child’s library. Supports the KS1 National Curriculum.
ISBN 9780241224939 HB Dorling Kindersley £14.99
5/5 Stars

ROALD DAHL SCRIBBLE BOOK BY ROALD DAHL
CHILDREN 7+
Celebrate the centenary of one of our greatest children’s authors with this creative book inspired by the wonderful world of Roald Dahl. 'Squibble' and colour your way through the fun activities featuring his most famous characters including the BFG, Willy Wonka and my favourite, Matilda. Draw your own Chocolate Factory or design a fantastic home for Mr Fox! Illustrations by the irrepressible Quentin Blake means this 'whoopsy whiffling' book will inspire hours of 'phizz-whizzing' fun.
ISBN 9780141368245 PB Penguin £6.99
5/5 Stars

THE SECRET COOKING CLUB BY LAUREL REMINGTON
CHILDRENS 9+
Scarlett is having a tough time at school since her mum became a famous blogger using her for toe curling inspiration. Withdrawing from anything that could potentially attract her mums attention she finds solace in secretly cooking. A sharply observed story about family, friends and the world of social media, this mixes the magic ingredients of baking and blogging to create a perfect literary treat. Worthy winner of the Times/Chicken House Competition.
ISBN 9781910655245 PB Chicken House £6.99
5/5 Stars

YOU CAN BUY ALL THE ABOVE BOOKS AT  HIVE HERE AND SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSHOP AT THE SAME TIME. 

Hive.co.uk works hand in hand with independendent bookshops to bring you books, DVDs and ebooks. Free delivery to your local bookshop or direct to your door. Shop local, shop independent

Meeting Sarah J Maas with ACOTAR

Loved meeting author Sarah J Maas in Cardiff for a book signing of her new fantasy series A Court of Thorns and Roses. She was seriously charming and answered everyone's questions. She also had the most fabulous cat ring on!!

 Can't wait to see what happens in the series.

I asked her how long it took to write this book. She said the plot took about a month then editing about 9 months after that! She is now writing 2 books a year, which her fans will be thrilled about, including me! 

It was interesing to know also that not only did she get inspiration from Beauty and the Beast but also looked to Greek Myth, specifically Hades and Persephone. Is this a clue for the next installment? We will have to wait and see.

Book Review Isla And The Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Synopsis

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart. 

Featuring cameos from fan-favorites Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love—set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris, and Barcelona—is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series

My Musings

I started to hear about this series on the grapevine but thought their titles were so silly I ignored them until a friend insisted I read them. She was addicted. Reading the blurb on the back with the glamour, the cities and the art certainly appealed so I thought why not?

The characters are very appealing and have a chemistry I don't think I remember this strong since Twilight. Its stirs personal memories or dreams of that elusive bad boy you never got but of course this is a book and has a Happily Ever After.

Isla is in a private school in Paris on the periphery of the cool set. Best friends with a high functioning autistic boy who she subconsciously uses as an emotional crutch while pining after the bad boy boy artist Josh.

After an hilarious first meeting which appeals to anyone who has had a cringing experience whilst desperately trying to impress they waft in and out of each others lives until they finally connect.

Sparks fly and the chemistry crackles. Perkins really knows how to capture the moment of the first kiss, the first spark of passion. You are transported to an idyllic moment that we all wish we'd had. A Secret balcony looking out over Paris. A gorgeous boy secretly drawing you. The heart break of trying to keep someone or let them go. The universal question of who we are and what do we want to do with our lives is also touched on. A mix of questions and dreams we have all had.

This is a very romantic, clever and potent read dripping in glamour with a dollop of angst to keep things spicy. You want to be there and you want to experience their love . I started with this book which is the last of a trilogy so now I will have to take the inevitable 'I told you so' from my friend and persuade her to lend me the first one!

If you like this you might like
Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea by April G. Tucholke

Book Review Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Synopsis

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. 

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them. 

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss. 

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel

My Musings

The first thing that caught my attention about this book was how visual and atmospheric it was. Stedman really draws you into the age at in the 1940's in Australia just after the war. Also the main location which is the  lighthouse has a magical quality as a place 'away from the things of man' and away from reality. This is the premise of this wonderful book. The lighthouse is a safe haven for Tom the new lighthouse keeper and his young wife Isabel as he wants to escape the memories of the war and start afresh. Life is idyllic until after 3 miscarriages and inconsolable Isobel finds a baby washed up in a little boat with a dead man and persuades Tom much against his instincts to keep it.
Like Tom and Isobel the reader assumes the baby's family is dead are they?

The plot really starts to thicken and the different shades of right and wrong rear their head on several occasions. As new truths emerge Tom struggles with his conscious about who the baby belongs with. His loving wife and brilliant mother or the young woman who believes she has lost both her husband and baby. 

The dilemma for Tom, especially when he realises he has met the baby's mother before, is can he sacrifice this womans grief for the happiness of his wife? The moral dilemma of a situation rapidly spinning out of control is painful , heartbreaking and intriguing. I am not sure any reader would be convinced of the absolute right or wrong of any of the decisions made . 

Of course ultimately it is the innocent little girl. Lucy Grace who will be the unwitting victim and potentially emotionally scarred. 

A gripping read that will have the rights and wrongs of the situation swirling around your head long after you finish the book. A great first book and look forward to the film as it definitely has a cinematic quality.


If you like this you may also like
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Ps. Good For a Book Group, loads to discuss

Book Review Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans

Synopsis

You can’t escape the ties that bind. The past catches up with you no matter how far you try to run…

This is a story of a girl who doesn’t believe in happy endings. Or happy families. It’s the story of Eleanor Bee, a shy, book-loving girl who vows to turn herself into someone bright, shiny and confident, someone sophisticated. Someone who knows how life works.

But life has a funny way of catching us unawares. Turns out that Elle doesn’t know everything about love. Or life. Or how to keep the ones we love safe….

Absorbing, poignant and unforgettable, Happily Ever After is a compelling story of a fractured family and a girl who doesn’t believe in love.

My Musings
I always liked Harriet Evans especially after reading her first book, Going Home but this was far darker than her previous books which I wasn't expecting. It deals with Elle at different stages of her life and her alcoholic mum, how it effects her and her family and relationships. 
It does have have romance in it but I felt this dealt with Elle's growth and how she deals with the drama in her life. There are times you find Elle very irritating and I felt she brought the disasters on herself. Sometimes you want to shake her. But then you think well aren't we all guilty of doing silly things at the wrong time. It does deal sensitively with the scarring nature other peoples addictions can have I feel but someone who has dealt with this in real life may think differently. The romantic element is somewhat an afterthought although there are some really romantic moments. Its also a really big book and at times got a bit fed up and thought she may have needed a stricter editor. Its supposed to be Chick lit but I felt it was trying to be a more serious and the book cover did not portray this at all. This was  more about the struggle to lead a life after coming from a dysfunctional family. Not really the sort of escapism I was looking for or used to by Harriet Evans. It is worth a read but its not her usual light read which is why I rated it OK.

Review of Silk by Alessandro Baricco

Synopsis

France, 1861. When an epidemic threatens to wipe out the silk trade in France, Herve Joncour (a young silkworm breeder) has to travel overland to distant Japan, out of bounds to foreigners, to smuggle out healthy silkworms. In the course of his secret negotiations with the local baron, Joncour's attention is arrested by the man's concubine, a girl who does not have oriental eyes. Although they are unable to exchange so much as a word, love blossoms between them, a love that is conveyed in a number of recondite messages. How their secret affair develops is told in this remarkable love story.

My Musings

A beautiful love story that will remain with you long after reading it. It is a short lyrical novella only 104 pages long, giving a nod to haiku Japanese poetry. The description of Herve going from a conservative life in France to Japan and the cultural difference is powerful and seeing the Japanese concubine for the first time is mesmerizing. The books simplicity just adds to its beauty and the heartbreaking romance at the centre of it. 

What is so beautiful is that Baricco says so much with out saying much at all. A look, a touch, a token gesture speaks volumes to the reader and their imagination. Is Herve so entranced by the Japanese concubine at the end of the world he loses sight of what is closer to home. Heart breaking and exquisite , a treasure of a book for anyone who's experienced those fleeting private moments in life that have taken your breath away. 

The book's unhurried pace transmits a tranquility at odds with the modern world we live in today. As you read it it becomes an oasis in a frantic world and you find yourself yearning for a time when we appreciate and notice those tiny gestures that mean so much from those we love. 

This is a book about passions never realised in the full sense of the word but also moments of wonder and love that open up the world around them and the reader. 

Breathtakingly romantic, sensual and erotic.

If you like this you might like

BOOKS

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden- Fascinating story of a little girl who grows up into a famous Geisha

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico- Heartbreaking powerful love story. A Classic

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry- A beautiful Classic

 

FILM

Silk- you can't compare this to the book but still a visually lovely film to watch if you like this era.

Memoirs of a Geisha-  I enjoyed this as much as the book although they have taken libertiets!!

Review Confessions of a Wild Child by Jackie Collins

Synopsis

Lucky Santangelo The Prequel at last. Jackie Collins gives us the background to her popular heroine of seven books. This is Lucky’s teenage years in her own words. Neglected by her Mafia father, her mother was murdered when Lucky was five, she behaves badly to get his attention but when she hits sixteen he’s had enough! This is a glorious romp through her antics and experimentations with boys.

My Musings

I have read all of Jackie Collins books featuring her most popular characters Gino and later his daughter Lucky and really loved them. They are larger than life characters who take no prisoners. Tough, ruthless yet both have a vunerability that makes them hugely appealing. So when I heard Jackie was writting a prequel about Lucky's teenage years aimed for the YA market I was very curious but excited to read it.

First it's written in the first person from Lucky and it seems Jackie has almost simplified her way of writing to appeal to her younger audience. It took me a while to get into it but I persevered as I am fan of Lucky and 'luckily' it soon picked up the pace. This is purely a holiday easy fun read but I found that there was no real direction and could have been developed more. I really felt Jackie had written this in a rush because her publisher had thought it was a good idea to get ont he YA bandwagon.

Re the YA fiction genre I am not sure if I would suggest this for a young teenager as there is a lot of sexual innuendo and exploits although Jackie does not go into full descriptions. On the other hand a strong part of the plot is that Lucky will do a lot but never go all the way with her numerous boyfriends. In other words Jackie's message to young girls is respect yourself , don't give it away. You can still have fun.

 What I have always liked about Jackie is she writes about very strong inspirational heroines' that won't take crap from anyone. If that is one message she can get across than great. If she tries this market again I would urge her to take it as seriously as her other books as I felt this needed more depth.

Verdict
Could have been a lot better. Started off disappointed but it definately improved. A fun, light holiday read for Lucky and Gino Fans with an open mind!! Lots of glamour and sexual innuendo.

My List of Fiction Books for Art Lovers

 

This is a list of fictional books I have read featureing artists and painters is some guise. Some take centre stage , while some use it as a backdrop but is still a relevant part of the story and of interest to anyone interested in art and painting. I will add more as I discover them!

Please feel free to add to my list as I am always on the look out for other books featuring artists.

The Girl With The Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

 Synopsis
17th Century Holland. When Griet becomes a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer in the town of Delft, she thinks she knows her role: housework, laundry and the care of his six children. But as she becomes part of his world and his work, their growing intimacy spreads tension and deception in the ordered household and, as the scandal seeps out, into the town beyond.

My Musings
Beautiful story of the relationship between the artist and an unlikely muse. Tender, visually stunning and romantic.

Paris in Winter by Imogen Robinson

Synopsis

A deep, dark and opulent tale of Belle Époque Paris, and the secrets and dangers hidden beneath its luxurious façade.

My Musings

I am not going to lie, this is a book I have not read yet but can't wait to. Superficially love the cover but the story looks great and love this era. Has had good reviews so couldn't resist putting it on!

Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach

Synopsis



The Amsterdam of the early 17th century has been forever immortalised by the serene, precise domestic realism of the canvases of Vermeer and Rembrandt. Deborah Moggach's novel Tulip Fever gives this time a compelling fictional twist. Set in 1630s Amsterdam, it begins with a typical Renaissance love triangle: a wealthy, elderly merchant, Cornelis Sandvoort, his beautiful but frustrated young wife Sophia and the painter who enters their life, Jan van Loos. Commissioned to paint the happy couple's portrait, Jan becomes embroiled in a series of emotional and financial speculations which are to change the character's lives forever. Interspersed with 16 beautifully reproduced Dutch paintings, Tulip Fever is a delightfully conceived story which offers a new dimension to what really goes on within the apparently placid domestic interiors of such canvases.
My Musings
For those who loved Girl With a Pearl Earring. Very evocative, passionate and interesting historical content about the age. Also lovely colour pictures of paintings, which is very unusual in fiction book.

 

The Very Picture of You by Isabel Wolff

Synopsis
A forbidden love, a life-long secret, and one chance to make the right decision. Ella has always been an artist, jotting down pictures from a young age, and now in her thirties she has made it her profession. When Ella's younger sister Chloe asks her to paint a portrait of her new fiance Nate, Ella is reluctant. He is a brash American who Ella thinks has proposed far too fast, so the thought of spending many hours alone with him fills her with dread. But before long Ella realises there is more to Nate than meets the eye. Beautifully inter-weaving the stories of Ella's sitters - from the old lady with a wartime secret, to the handsome politician who has a confession to make - with Ella's own hunt for her real father and slow realization that she is falling in love with the wrong man.
My Musings
Set around a portrait artists and her sitters a great insight into the intimacy that can evolve from these sitttings and a really good holiday read and gift.

Dearest Rose by Rowan Coleman

Synopsis

RoNA Best Epic Romantic Novel 2013, Festival of Romance Best Romantic Read 2012, and shortlisted for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year 2013.


'You are a remarkable woman and you deserve all the happiness, contentment and love in the world. I, for one, know that I have never met anyone quite like you.'

When Rose Pritchard turns up on the doorstep of a Cumbrian B&B it is her last resort. She and her seven-year-old daughter Maddie have left everything behind. And they have come to the village of Millthwaite in search of the person who once offered Rose hope.

Almost immediately Rose wonders if she's made a terrible mistake - if she's chasing a dream - but she knows in her heart that she cannot go back. She's been given a second chance - at life, and love - but will she have the courage to take it?

Show More

Show Less

My Musings
This book features the artist as Rose's long lost father whom she goes to find. It is more about Rose and her getting out of a very bad situation and rebonding with her father. However it also goes on to describe well how obsessive and selfish artists can be!! A really good read.

The Half Forgotten Song by Katherine Webb

Synopsis
A spellbinding tale about the power of love, the danger of obsession, and the unfaithful nature of memory. A Half Forgotten Song is by turns haunting, heartbreaking and joyous.

1937. In a village on the Dorset coast, fourteen-year-old Mitzy Hatcher has endured a wild and lonely upbringing, until the arrival of renowned artist Charles Aubrey-along with his exotic mistress and their daughters-changes everything. Over the next three summers, Mitzy sees a future she had never thought possible, and a powerful love is kindled in her. A love that grows from innocence to obsession; from childish infatuation to something far more complex. Years later, a young man in an art gallery looks at a hastily-drawn portrait and wonders at its intensity. The questions he asks lead him to a Dorset village and to the truth about those fevered summers in the 1930s.

My musings
This is loosely based on the artist Augustus John I believe. A very dark but brilliant tale of obsession.

The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Synopsis

Set in the Paris it tells the story of three sisters, one of whom becomes the model for Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. A Darkly Beautiful read on theatre life in The Belle Epoque. 

My Musings 

A Darkly Beautiful read on theatre life in The Belle Epoque. For a Full Review click here

An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay

Synopsis

An outstanding debut about a love affair between artists that endures professional rivalry, alcoholism and betrayal

My Musings.
Totally forgot about this book until I was tidying up my bookshelf. I remember it being deeply evocative and the wonderful descriptions of time and place were haunting. Definately a great gift for a lover of art, spain and beautiful prose. 
Some more reviews below.
'An Equal Stillness is pitch perfect. Kay describes Mallow's painting with an arresting intensity' (Eithne Farry DAILY MAIL)

An enchanting life story... Exquisitely written: the descriptions of Jennet's work, paintings that never existed and the descriptions of colour are breathtaking. (DAILY EXPRESS)

it's the freshness of the prose, the insightfulness of the author, that makes this a very special book... A startlingly accomplished debut. (newbooks magazine)

a masterful portrait of a woman forging an unexpectedly dazzling career against the backdrop of familial duty (EASY LIVING)

Kay writes about art with a wonderful sensuality and relish (THE TIMES)

Kay's writing is beautifully intense (FINANCIAL TIMES)

a compelling, vivid portrait (THE GUARDIAN)

Francesca Kay's impressive first novel is a fictional biography... The descriptions of artworks are remarkable. Colour is evoked with amazing subtlety. (THE INDEPENDENT)

the most beautiful, accomplished debut I have read for a long time... It is a powerful novel by a supremely talented artist. (Francesca Segal THE OBSERVER)

the author successfully shares with us her delight in the world. (DAILY TELEGRAPH)

This is a story of genius amid domesticity that will resonate with readers on a fundamental level. We're thrilled to recommend this book and are excited to see what Francesca Kay does next (Mishal Husain Orange Chair of Judges, BBC World News presenter)

Ms Kay has an unusual ability to ignite the imagination. A passion for art and a gift for depicting the landscape of paint are what make the book stand out. (THE ECONOMIST)

Francesca Kay has won this year's Orange Award for New Writers and a real star has stepped on to the stage... Lyrical, sensual, sharp - this is the most impressive contemporary novel I have read for years. (A.N. Wilson READERS DIGEST)

Review of Stella by Helen Eve

Stella by Helen Eve

 Synopsis

17-year-old Stella Hamilton is the star blazing at the heart of Temperley High. Leader of the maliciously exclusive elite, she is surrounded by adulation; envied and lusted after in equal … Read moremeasure. And she is in the final stage of a five-year campaign to achieve her destiny: love with her equally popular male equivalent, and triumph as Head Girl on election night. By contrast, new girl Caitlin Clarke has until now lived a quietly conformist life in New York. With the collapse of her parents' marriage she has been sent across the Atlantic for an English boarding school education, only to discover that at Temperley, the only important rules are the unwritten ones. It's a world of the beautiful and the dangerous, and acceptance means staying on the right side of Stella Hamilton, the most beautiful and dangerous of them all. Not everyone is happy to be under the Hamilton rule. But fighting the system means treading the same dark path as Stella - and if Caitlin puts a foot wrong, it's a long way down ...

My Musings

When I chose this proof I was attracted to the blurb comparing it to to Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars. Also Stella is a play on Estella from Great Expectations who I find a fascinating character so a modern take would certainly spike my interest.
I thought the setting of rich girls at boarding school would be perfect for the time honoured two girls fighting over cute boy plot.... How wrong was I!!  Honestly I would go further and compare it to a cross between the films Cruel Intentions (a teen adaption on Dangerous Liaisons) and Carrie, the horror movie. OK so that is a little extreme but by the end of the book,(No Spoilers here) you will know where I am coming from.

Alternate chapters are written from the personal viewpoint of the 2 main girls, the 'heroin' Caitlin and the 'anti heroine' Stella. It is a power play from the off set. Stella knows she is beautiful, bright and can manipulate her friends and boyfriends which ever way she pleases. As we read further you discover her background and her closeness to her sisters. It is like peeling an onion, layer by horrifying layer.

Caitlin on the other hand moves from USA with her selfish father and really wants to fit in. She proves useful for Stella but starts to see cracks in the dominating group and starts to realise she has the power, like Stella to become a power player in the school. 

Inevitably Caitlins and Stellas friendship implodes as they fight to be Head Girl.
Who is more ruthless, who has the most ambition. How far will they go?

The two boys who are ruthlessly manipulated by both girls Edward and Luke end up with a lot of your sympathy but they are definitely not what this book is about. The romance is a small part of it but very powerful and sad, especially regarding Stella and Luke. I found their romance incredibly poignant.

I am not going to give any plot away but I will say that the writer manipulates the reader very well! Your alliances and sympathies throughout are turned on its head.
It took me a while to get in to it as the chapter by each girl I found a little frenetic at first but once I was used to her style of writing I became engrossed. I found this very frustrating as I wanted to read a fluffy light book but this was certainly not but I needed to know what happened in the end.

Verdict
Dark, Machiavellian and not for the faint hearted. Turn away now if you want a light romance. The story and characters will remain with you a long while after you have finished the book.

If you like this you might like
Film
Cruel Intentions
Dangerous Liaisons
Single White Female
The Talented Mr Ripley

TV
Gossip Girl
Sex and the City
Pretty Little Liars
Revenge

Books

Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach
Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

Books for Ballet Lovers Part 2 Fiction for Adults and Children

Books for Ballet Lovers Part 2 Fiction for Adults and Children

Alina Cojocaru and Sergei Polunin by Zoe James-Williams, pastel

My list of ballet books was getting so long I thought I had better put it into two parts.

Books for Ballet Lovers Part 2 focuses on ballet in fiction for adults and children.

Ballet In Fiction

Prima Donna by Karen Swan

Pia Soto is the sexy and glamorous prima ballerina, the Brazilian bombshell who’s shaking up the ballet world with her outrageous behaviour. She’s determined that no man will ever control her destiny. But ruthless financier Will Silk has Pia in his sights, When a devastating accident threatens to cut short Pia’s illustrious career, Sophie has to step out of the shadows and face up to the demons in her own life. A really fun holiday read by an author who has clearly done her research. Very enjoyable with larger than life characters and lots of glamour!

Pan ISBN 978-1447223740

Check out Karen Swan's Website

Dancer by Colin McCann

Fictional life of Rudolf Nureyev as a child and how he became a dancer.

Phoenix ISBN: 978-0753817049

First Love by Adrienne Sharp

Gripping story of two ballet dancers in love making their way through the ranks. Quite dark in places so have put it in Fiction but could be given to older teenager. NB this seems to be out of print but if you can get it worth the read. An easy holiday read.

Arrow ISBN-13: 978-0099491026

Two books using Degas and the ballet world so must read

Painted girls by Cathy Buchanan

Set in the Paris it tells the story of three sisters, one of whom becomes the model for Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. A Darkly Beautiful read on theatre life in The Belle Epoque. For My Review click here

US Imports ISBN-13: 978-1594486241

Ballet in Children's Fiction 7+

Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson

A historical romance in which one Harriet Morton comes to life only when she attends her weekly ballet class in 1912. She finds her fortune as a dancer, but all the time she is followed by her father and by the man intent on becoming her husband. A great read for Ibbotson fans and a modern day classic!
Picador ISBN- 978-0230014848
Children 9+

Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfield

The story of three sisters going to stage school, the youngest being an inspiring dancer. A Classic.

Puffin ISBN- 978-0141334424
Children 9+

Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfield

When their mother dies, leaving them orphaned, Rachel and Hilary are sent to live with their aunt, who runs a troupe of dancing girls -'Mrs Wintle's Little Wonders'. Hilary, a talented dancer, settles there immediately and loves the chance to dance every day. Rachel finds it more difficult to fit in. She's also got another worry on her mind. Her mother's dying wish was for Hilary to attend the Royal Ballet School. But Hilary seems to have other ideas! Another classic

Hodder ISBN- 978-0340626634
Children 9+

Magic Ballerina Series by Darcey Bussell

A delightful series of stories about different little ballerina's on various adventures. The first one is called Delphie and the Magic Ballet Slippers.

Harper Collins ISBN- 978-0007286072
Children 7+

Ballet in Picture and Activity Books

TIGER IN A TUTU BY FABI SANTIAGO

PICTURE BOOK 3+

A striking picture book about a tiger who aspires to be a ballet dancer in Paris. Against all the odds he follows his dream and with a little help from his new friend finally performs in a proper theatre. The bold limited palette really captures the French capital and the twilight world of theatre life. Enchanting and inspiring with the lovely sentiment that nothing is impossible this is the perfect present for little dancers everywhere.
ISBN: 9781408336885 HB Orchard Books £11.99

5/5 Stars

Ella Bella Series by James Mayhew

Stories of a little student ballerina being whisked away into the words of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and the Nutcracker (isbn below). Beautiful illustrations and a real delight.

Orchard ISBN-: 978-1408314081

Ps. James has a great blog to check out
James Mayhew Blog

Dogs Don't Do Ballet by Anna Kemp

Funny and heart warming story of a Dog who Dreams of Being a Ballerina

Simon and Schuster ISBN: 978-1847384744

Tutu Tilly Series by Adele Geras

Tilly's adventures as a ballerina including My Ballet Dream and Little Ballet Star and The Ballet Class(isbn below)

Orchard ISBN: 978-1843624134

Angelina Ballerina Series by Katherine Holabird

A Series of adventures of a little mouse who is a ballerina. Picture Books

Puffin ISBN- 978-0723271666

Fairy Pop-Up Ballet Tree

A beautiful 3D pop-up tree with movable pieces, press-out fairies and decorations, fun fairy facts and a novelty pocket

Macmillan ISBN 978-0230760301

How to Draw Princesses and Ballerinas by Fiona Watt 5+

Aspiring artists can choose from gorgeous projects including a Sugar Plum Fairy, a Fairytale castle and a Princess Sleepover. With simple step-by-step instructions, children will be able to produce satisfying results time and time again.

Usborne ISBN 978-1409566366

Ballerinas, Usborne Sticker Fashion by Leonie Pratt 5+

Dress the ballerinas up in different costumes with 400 stickers provided

Usborne ISBN 978-0746076583