Sari Wilson

Midnight in a Perfect World

This novel-in-progress takes place largely within the strange, sometimes sinister world of ballet. It centers on a young girl growing up in 1970s and '80s bohemian Brooklyn, her parents' doomed marriage, and the girl's peripatetic journey through the classical dance world. The story arc echoes the tale of Giselle, a famous Romantic-era ballet.

In some ways, this is a deeply personal book. I too trained as a ballet dancer during the 1970s and 1980s. I studied at Harkness Ballet and was on scholarship at Eliot Feld's New Ballet School. I have interviewed other dancers who trained at competitive ballet programs and have read numerous autobiographies of dancers who traveled the same road. I remain fascinated by the peril-fraught journey of these young girls.

Here is the opening of Midnight in a Perfect World.

• Prologue

Midnight in a Perfect World is © and ™ Sari Wilson