The Master's Muse by Varley O'Connor

A ballerina's imagined voice reveals love beyond the stage

Good Condition - Dust jacket has scuffs, small edge tears and nicks, a crushed upper rear corner and retail stickers on the back.

Varley O'Connor imagines the life of ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq, whose promising career was abruptly ended by polio while she was married to choreographer George Balanchine. Told through a fictional version of Tanaquil's voice, the novel moves between the artistic world of ballet and the personal upheaval of learning to live after the loss of dancing. Her relationship with Balanchine and her connection with Jerome Robbins become part of a story about devotion, independence and the demands of creative genius. The Master's Muse explores the distance between being celebrated as an artist and being seen as a person, giving emotional shape to a woman's effort to define herself after the role that once sustained her has changed.