Girl Through Glass

Before now we almost knew that American ballet, after Balanchine, had-has-something savage and cruel at its heart...But only a writer of very remarkable gifts could have the stylistic brilliance, the athletic daring, speed, power of ellipsis, the leap-to tell this dark story correctly and to bring to life its principals: the crippled, romantic old man of a mentor figure and the beautiful, damaged young girl he shapes. In her stunning first novel, Sari Wilson has done just this.

Powerful. Gripping. Incandescent...As powerful storytelling kept me turning the pages, Wilson's extraordinary voice whispered to me about the things that both bind and divide us: desire, ambition and love. This book will stay in my heart for a long time.

A former ballet student, Wilson skillfully details the world of her teenage dancer...but the book's subject is less the ballet itself than the costs of early virtuosity-the feeling of being propelled by a force you don't understand and can't control-and the dangerous intoxication of the perfect, weightless moments when everything but 'air, motion, height' falls away.

Wilson pens an intense debut that gives readers a glimpse into the world of classical ballet. She cleverly weaves storylines from 1977 and the present day to provide a raw account of this unique lifestyle and all of the determination and heartbreak that go along with it.

A nimble, nuanced psychological drama that leaps through time and place with an appropriate and assured agility. Once a ballerina herself, Wilson speaks with vibrant authority and acute vulnerability as she exposes the conflicted and competitive behind-the-scenes world of professional ballet.

A uniformly engrossing look into the fabled world of hypercompetitive 1970s ballet...The plot ricochets toward a surprising, and bittersweet, merging of Kate's and Mira's stories. Wilson writes lovingly of ballet and elevates the coming-of-age story with a dark undercurrent about the cost of obsession.

An engaging tale of ballet, obsession, and consequences...An absorbing novel, rich with detail both about ballet and New York...Recommended for readers who appreciate complex characters and a carefully crafted style.

This portrayal of a ballerina's transformation and sacrifice burns with the beauty of fire: it's powerful, it's destructive, and it dares you to try and look away.

Sari Wilson explores the beauty and complexity of time and the emergence of a woman's identity. This engrossing story, told with great artistry, captures the romance and rigor of art making. Sari's prose is balletic: elegant, musical, and captivating.

A debut novel of exceptional daring and verve, Sari Wilson's Girl through Glass is a chilling, evocative portrait of the 1970s New York dance world and the young lives it consumed.