Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy

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What to expect

Marina is born of privilege. Her mother, Sveta, is the Soviet Union's prima ballerina: an international star handpicked by the regime. But Sveta is afflicted with a mysterious second sight and becomes obsessed with exposing a horrific state secret. Then she disappears.

Fearing for their lives, Marina and her father defect to Brooklyn. Marina struggles to reestablish herself as a dancer at the American School of Ballet. But her enigmatic partner, Sergei, makes concentration almost impossible, as does the fact that Marina shares her mother's "gift," and has a vision of her father's murder at the hands of the Russian crooks and con artists she thought they'd left behind.

Now Marina must navigate the web of intrigue surrounding her mother's disappearance, her ability, and exactly whom she can—and can't—trust.

Critics Review

u201cThis twisty, dark mystery has it all.u201d

Judy Blundell, National Book Awardu2013winning author of What I Saw and How I Lied

u201cIn a world where nothing makes sense, what is sanity?u2026This natmospheric, suspenseful story is one of devotion and deception, innocence and independence, friendship and love, music and dance, nimmigration and coming of age.u201d

Booklist (starred review)

u201cDebut novelist Kiemu2019s title pays apt homage to John le Carru00e9 while delineating the roles seventeen-year-old ballerina Marina playsu2026Kiem successfully creates the mood of the oppressive, fearful state of Communist Russia that persists outside its borders and builds levels of intrigue that lead to a devastating climax.u201d

Publishers Weekly

u201cFascinatingu2026The twists and turns, as Marina tries to decide whom shen can really trust, keep readers guessing right up to the end, just as a ngood spy novel should.u201d

School Library Journal

u201cThis is sophisticated storytelling with complexncharacterization and details that provide color and textureu2026There are enoughntwists to surprise and engage readers to the end. A compelling portrait of anyoung woman on the verge of adulthood, caught up in the domestic secrets of hernparents and the enmity of two countries.u201d

Kirkus Reviews

u201cA romantic, suspenseful, and gracefully-written novel.u201d

Natalie Standiford, author of How to Say Goodbye in Robot and Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters

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