The Ballerinas

Kapelke-Dale (Graduates in Wonderland: The International Misadventures of Two (Almost) Adults, with Jessica Pan) makes her fiction debut with a well-crafted thriller. When dancer Delphine returns to Paris after 13 years in Saint Petersburg to choreograph Tsarina for the Paris Opera Ballet, she desperately wants to reconnect with Margaux and Lindsay , her best friends from their ballet academy. Delphine has a secret, something she and Margaux did that ruined Lindsay’s life 14 years earlier. Delphine casts soloist Lindsay in Tsarina’s title role in an effort to make things right, but no matter how hard Delphine works, Tsarina falls apart. When Lindsay intentionally kicks her understudy in the face during rehearsals, Delphine is forced to fire her. To salvage the ballet, Delphine shifts her focus to Jock, an old flame playing the role of Rasputin. The more time Delphine spends with Jock, the more she realizes she and Margaux aren’t the only ones with secrets, and a potential scandal threatens to destroy the Paris Opera Ballet. Kapelke-Dale nicely explores the power of female friendship, a woman’s relationship with her body, and what it truly means to be seen. This one’s for fans of Megan Abbott’s The Turnout. (Dec.)