by Juhea Kim
First published 2024
Natalia Leonova steps off the train in St. Petersburg on a White Night in 2019. Two years have passed since the accident that destroyed her ballet career. Pills and alcohol now replace the discipline that once made her the most celebrated dancer of her generation. The city confronts her with memories she cannot escape. Her demanding mother still lives here. Her absent father left wounds that never healed. Two men shaped her art and her heart. Alexander gave her love and transformed her dancing. Dmitri brought darkness and genius in equal measure. Now Dmitri offers her something unexpected: a chance to perform her signature role again. Natalia must choose whether to face the stage and the people who lifted her to greatness and brought her to ruin. The decision will force her to confront what she lost, what she became, and who she might still become.
Genres: drama, romance, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: second-chance, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Russia, St. Petersburg
Period: 2019
319 pages · Kindle Edition · Ecco
Content warnings: addiction, depression, mental-illness