Staff Recommendations, Week of December 7, 2021

One blog post, one staff rec!

Out today, and with a write-up from our proprietor Daniel Goldin, it's a debut novel from Milwaukee native (current Paris resident) Rachel Kapelke-Dale: The Ballerinas. Here's Daniel's rec: "Delphine, Lindsay, and Marqaux were inseparable friends and fellow dancers at the Paris Opera Ballet. Now Delphine is back as a guest choreographer, hoping to make Lindsay the star dancer in her new work about Rasputin and the Tsarina Alexandra. But there are a lot of stumbling blocks to this show’s success, like Delphine’s old beaus Jock and Dmitri, Lindsay’s husband Daniel, and Natalie, the head of the company, who wants to push Delphine in a more feminist and modernist direction. So many secrets! So many betrayals! The Ballerinas is a page-turning story of friendship dynamics with an interesting take on the physical tolls and psychological abuses borne by women dancers. Sometimes the author blurbs seem out of left field, but in this case, the Jessica Knoll comparison and the Andrea Bartz recommendation lead readers in the right direction."

Author Kapelke-Dale will join us at Boswell for a hybrid event next week, too - Wednesday, December 15 - click here to visit the Boswell upcoming events page for more info about this event and registration links.

Staff recs are a bit sporadic through the end of the year as we focus on gift book shopping. But keep your eyes on the blog, and we'll keep you updated when we read something we love!