Astonish Me

Astonish Me
Maggie Shipstead

From the prize-winning author of Seating Arrangements comes an exquisitely written, fiercely compelling glimpse into the demanding world of professional ballet and its magnetic hold over two generations.Astonish Me is the irresistible story of Joan, a young American dancer who helps a Soviet ballet star, the great Arslan Rusakov, defect in 1975. A flash of fame and a passionate love affair follow, but Joan knows that, onstage and off, she is destined to remain in the shadows.After her relationship with Arslan sours, Joan decides to make a new life for herself. She quits ballet, marries a good man, and settles into the rhythm of Californian life with their son, Harry. But as the years pass, Joan comes to understand that ballet isn’t finished with her yet: for there is no mistaking that Harry is a prodigy. Inevitably Joan is soon pulled back into a world she thought she’d left behind and back to Arslan.Gripping and dramatic, Astonish Me is a story about the nature of talent, the choices we must make in search of fulfilment, and how we can never truly escape from the secrets of the past.

About the Book (#ulink_b13ff9e3-a58b-56be-b972-ba94ca08b04d)

From the prize-winning author of Seating Arrangements comes an exquisitely written, fiercely compelling glimpse into the demanding world of professional ballet and its magnetic hold over two generations.

Astonish Me is the story of Joan, a young American dancer who helps a Soviet ballet star, the great Arslan Rusakov, defect in 1975. A flash of fame and a passionate love affair follow, but Joan knows that, onstage and off, she is destined to remain in the shadows.

After her relationship with Arslan sours, Joan decides to make a new life for herself. She quits ballet, marries a good man, and settles into the rhythm of Californian life with their son, Harry. But as the years pass, Joan comes to understand that ballet isn’t finished with her yet: for there is no mistaking that Harry is a prodigy. Inevitably Joan is soon pulled back into a world she thought she’d left behind and back to Arslan.

Gripping and dramatic, Astonish Me is a story about the nature of talent, the choices we must make in search of fulfilment, and how we can never truly escape from the secrets of the past.

Praise for Maggie Shipstead (#uc9703f68-dafe-5faf-a363-b9e2e661f751)

‘So graceful, so dazzling, so sure-handed and fearless, that at times I had to remind myself to breathe. Astonish Me is a treasure of small surprises’ Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette

‘Shipstead is a gifted writer who examines families and relationships in a poignant, insightful way’ Stylist

‘Étonnez-moi, Diaghilev famously challenged Jean Cocteau: ‘Astonish me.’ That’s a fair description of what Maggie Shipstead did to me on nearly every page of this impressive novel. Like its subject, the ballet, this book is intricately choreographed, technically demanding, yet seemingly relaxed, written in a prose of great emotional range and acuity. I will be paying close attention to Shipstead’s career from here on in’ Jeffrey Eugenides, author of The Marriage Plot

‘Joyously good’ Daily Mail

‘Outrageously gifted’ Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls

‘The smart money has to be on Maggie Shipstead winning a Pulitzer before she is 50’ Allison Pearson

Astonish Me

Maggie Shipstead

Dedication (#ulink_07e13b77-c8db-5a1b-8abd-a11e3271664d)

For two beloved friends:

NICHOLAS,

who knows about the place where art and life meet, and

MICHELLE,

who goes to the ballet with me

Table of Contents

Cover (#ue9523e89-0885-5b43-971c-f29f9c0f99a4)

About the Book (#u233c146d-d4fe-57c5-8cde-583b92c07bbb)

Praise for Maggie Shipstead

Title Page (#ua437f0d8-8492-5ea1-8fca-00faffa69b33)

Dedication (#u82eecfb2-9784-586f-8d2b-c174221c07fa)

Part I

September 1977—New York City

November 1978—Chicago

June 1982—Southern California

August 1984—Disneyland

October 1985—Southern California

Part II

February 1973—Paris

March 1974—New York City

January 1975—Toronto

February 1976—Paris

Part III

April 1986—Southern California

December 1987—Southern California

March 1990—Southern California

April 1991—Southern California

July 1992—Upstate New York

May 1993—Southern California

July 1994—New York City

Part IV

July 1977—New York City

December 1995—Southern California