Granny Dan

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Fine
Jacket Condition: Fine
Publisher: Bantam Press
Publisher Place: Australia
Publisher Year: 1999
Edition: First Edition

Description: 223 pages. Book and Jacket appear to have hardly been read and are both in Fine condition throughout and covered in a protective plastic.

Publishers Description: From the author of HEARTBEAT, JEWELS and THE GHOST, a novel set in 1902, featuring a motherless young girl who arrives in Russia and becomes a great ballerina who is welcomed into the heart of the Imperial family. However, war, revolution and illness upset her life, and force her to make a heartbreaking choice. Industry Reviews Steels 46th romance (after Bittersweet, p. 405, etc.), this time about a young woman who finds her grandmothers letters . . . as well as her old toe shoes. After Granny Dans death, the nursing home where she died sends her granddaughter a package of last effects - pictures, a locket, the ballet slippers, and a pile of letters tied together with faded blue ribbon and written in Russian, Dans native tongue. Assuming the role of translator and plucker of heartstrings, Steel (perhaps we should call her Auntie Dan) creates the memoir of a woman who had always been old to her granddaughter. For those looking for a 3-D rendering of a 22-year-old ballerina who goes to New England during the Russian Revolution, look elsewhere. For those interested in the paper-doll version, including a ballgown presented by the czarina, Steels story will not disappoint. Danina Petroskova arrived at the Maryinsky school in St. Petersburg at age seven, where she studied with religious dedication to become a prima ballerina. Years later, when she is felled by influenza, her doctor, Nikolai Obrajensky, also the czars physician, brings her to the royal familys summer palace to recuperate. While staying with Nick, Alex, and the kids, Danina and the unhappily married Nikolai fall in love. From here on, the gentle reader can pretty much write the book herself. Back in St. Petersburg, Danina endures a botched abortion that almost kills her. Then, once shes back in prima condition, and after a couple of interludes with Nikolai at Tsarsko Selo, she breaks her ankle and will never be able to dance again. Meanwhile, the Revolution is in full swing. Nikolai arranges for Danina to go to his cousin in Vermont, where as soon as he can leave the czars family, now under arrest, hell join her. With her gift for turning tragedy into treacle, Steel writes the equivalent of one of those childrens jewelry boxes where a plastic ballerina twirls to a very old tune. (Kirkus Reviews)

ISBN: 9780593040751