The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

 

They meet at the Paris School Of Ballet as young girls.  Delphine is the 'nice' one, a girl whose mother was a ballet star.  Margaux is her best friend and they are the two best dancers.  Lindsay is an American and comes when she is twelve.  She quickly becomes friends with the others and they become a trio for life.  Only other dancers can understand their lives; the daily hours of practice, the quest for perfection, the competition to rise in the field they have chosen.

The story picks back up when the trio is thirty-six, almost at the end of a dancer's career.  Delphine is just returning to Paris after thirteen years in St. Petersburg.  She followed a man there and became a choreographer.  When she broke away from him, she returned to the Paris Ballet and is working to establish herself in her career.  Margaux has come out as gay, is married and is a secret alcoholic.  Lindsay married a journalist and is still fighting to make her mark.  She dances fearlessly but has never been popular with those in power at the Ballet.  

The friendship of the three women picks back up but has to adjust.  They realize that a grown friendship has to be different than that of girls.  In their case, each is struggling to come to terms with what comes next in their lives and fighting to throw off the expectations of men.  They have come to see that their live have been dominated by men and what they want, what they find appealing, what they are willing to let women have.  Can their friendship adjust to a more mature footing?

Rachel Kapelke-Dale grew up in the world of intensive ballet training so she knows the inside story of what these women go through to become the best in the world at what they do.  But more importantly than one field of endeavor, the book explores the world of female friendships and how they change as we grow and how the best of them sustain those involved.  She also talks about how women's dreams and goals are often constrained by the men around them and the struggle to live free of others' expectations.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.