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Astonish Me: A novel Audiobook
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A gorgeously 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 background. She will never possess Arslan, and she will never be a prima ballerina. She will rise no higher than the corps, one dancer among many.
After her relationship with Arslan sours, Joan plots to make a new life for herself. She quits ballet, marries a good man, and settles in California with him and 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. Through Harry, Joan is pulled back into a world she thought she’d left behind—back into dangerous secrets, and back, inevitably, to Arslan.
Combining a sweeping, operatic plot with subtly observed characters, Maggie Shipstead gives us a novel of stunning intensity and deft psychological nuance.
Gripping, dramatic, and brilliantly conjured, Astonish Me confirms Shipstead’s range and ability and raises provocative questions about the nature of talent, the choices we must make in search of fulfillment, and how we square the yearning for comfort with the demands of art.
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“As in ballet, some of the drama is slyly withheld offstage, heightening the suspense…[and] sets the stage for a cruel, but inevitable heartbreak.”
— Boston Globe
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“A sensational piece of acting and a flawless production. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile -
“Sharp and memorable…Its truths resonate.”
— San Diego Union-Tribune -
“Dramatizes the tensions between family and career, perfectionism and compromise.”
— New Yorker -
“A nearly two-decade push-pull of artistic need, devotion, and dependency.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“[Covers] rarefied realm of professional ballet—brilliantly exposing its dark, slavish underbelly with insight and panache.”
— Elle -
“A bravura display of high-performance art, the only constant its quest for perfection.”
— The Guardian (London) -
“Shipstead has captured the mercurial flow of artistic genius, the way it sanctifies some lives even as it condemns others.”
— Washington Post -
“A supple, daring, and vivid portrait of desire and betrayal.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Captur[es]…the messy fallout that erupts when personal and professional lines blur.”
— Library Journal
Awards
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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An NPR bestseller
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One of Barnes & Noble's Biggest Books of April 2014
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An Amazon Best Book of the Month, April 2014
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An AudioFile Best Audiobook of the Year for 2014
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A BookPage Best Book of 2014
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A BookPage Top Pick for Reading Groups
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About Maggie Shipstead
Maggie Shipstead is the author of three novels and a short story collection. Her novel Great Circle, a New York Times bestseller, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the Women’s Prize. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction.
About Rebecca Lowman
Rebecca Lowman is an actress and audiobook narrator who has won numerous Earphones Awards. She has starred in numerous television shows, including Law & Order, Big Love, NCIS, and Grey’s Anatomy, among many others. She earned her MFA from Columbia University.