A Ticket to the Ballet

Jeanne Lebedeva is a writer and investor who has never lived in Russia. For more than 20 years, the author has had no living connection to Russian culture, so her book “A Ticket to the Ballet” is written in a language that feels unusual for readers. "Like an old skin, Polina shed her dress and dove into the lake. In an instant, pleasant coolness and freshness spread through her body. Swimming was easy and enjoyable. Behind the thick morning fog you couldn’t see trees or the other shore. She was swimming into nowhere, into the unknown—splaying her hands to carry the water-milk and staring into the distance, through a dense curtain of velvet darkness."

The main character, Polina, a professional ballerina, like every lonely girl, dreams of being happy. To create, to love, and to be loved. The plot, carried along by the spellbinding sounds of music, draws the reader not only to the theater stage and behind the scenes, but also through the winding streets of old Vilnius, the enchanting New York, and into the mysterious land of the Incas. Intriguing events that unfold swiftly sweep the heroine into the depths of passion and longing. Will Polina survive all the trials of life and will she meet her destiny?