Outside the Limelight, Book 2 of the Ballet Theatre Chronicles
Named a "Best Book of 2017" by Kirkus Reviews
Rising ballet star Dena Lindgren's dream career is knocked off its axis when a puzzling onstage fall results in a crushing diagnosis: a brain tumor. Looming surgery and its long recovery period prompt the company’s artistic director, Anders Gunst, to shift his attention to an overshadowed company dancer: Dena's older sister, Rebecca, with whom Anders once shared a special relationship.
Under the heady glow of Anders’ attention, Rebecca thrives, even as her recuperating sister, hobbled and unnoticed, languishes on the sidelines of a world that demands beauty and perfection. Rebecca ultimately faces a painful choice: play by the artistic director’s rules and profit, or take shocking action to help her sister.
Exposing the glamorous onstage world of professional ballet, as well as its shadowed wings and dark underbelly, OUTSIDE THE LIMELIGHT examines loyalty, beauty, artistic passion, and asks what might be worth losing in order to help the ones you love.
Rising ballet star Dena Lindgren's dream career is knocked off its axis when a puzzling onstage fall results in a crushing diagnosis: a brain tumor. Looming surgery and its long recovery period prompt the company’s artistic director, Anders Gunst, to shift his attention to an overshadowed company dancer: Dena's older sister, Rebecca, with whom Anders once shared a special relationship.
Under the heady glow of Anders’ attention, Rebecca thrives, even as her recuperating sister, hobbled and unnoticed, languishes on the sidelines of a world that demands beauty and perfection. Rebecca ultimately faces a painful choice: play by the artistic director’s rules and profit, or take shocking action to help her sister.
Exposing the glamorous onstage world of professional ballet, as well as its shadowed wings and dark underbelly, OUTSIDE THE LIMELIGHT examines loyalty, beauty, artistic passion, and asks what might be worth losing in order to help the ones you love.
Available through Ingram Book Company, Bookshop Santa Cruz and on Amazon HERE
Praise for Outside the Limelight
“A lovely and engaging tale of sibling rivalry in the high-stakes dance world.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Balanchine said dance is music made visible; Terez Mertes Rose’s Outside the Limelight is dance made readable. She reveals both the beauty of ballet and its pain in a compelling, deftly written novel that unfolds like a series of perfectly executed chaîné turns. Not to be missed!"
-- Tasha Alexander, NYT bestselling author of A Terrible Beauty
"Outside the Limelight sweeps us backstage, through the wings, past the dressing rooms, and into the lives of its dancers, where we see them up close, flawed and beautiful."
-- Adrienne Sharp, bestselling author of The True Memoirs of Little K and White Swan, Black Swan
"From the theater's spotlights and shadows comes a nuanced drama of pain and beauty without one false note. I didn't want it to end!"
-- Kathryn Craft, award-winning author of The Art of Falling and The Far End of Happy
"Outside the Limelight pulls readers into the lives of two sisters, both professional ballerinas. Through their challenges, obstacles and triumphs we are reminded that life is a complicated yet wondrous journey, and that love--artistic, romantic and familial--is one of the strongest forces of all."
-- Zippora Karz, former soloist, New York City Ballet, author of The Sugarless Plum and Ballerina Dreams
"Readers will relish this fresh, enlightened insider's look at two talented dancer sisters beset by professional rivalry & bound by love. This glowing novel is full of heart. Enchanting."
-- Sari Wilson, author of Girl Through Glass
“In Outside the Limelight, Terez Mertes Rose once again manages to perfectly capture the ethereal beauty of the ballet. It’s a story as rich, heartbreaking and uplifting as any ballet masterwork, with characters who stay with you long after the final act.”
-- Lauren E. Rico, author of Reverie and Rhapsody
