A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
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AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The mesmerising new thriller, set in the hothouse world of a ballet school, from the bestselling and award-winning writer Megan Abbott.

Dara and Marie were trained as ballet dancers by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents died in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago, the sisters took over running the school together with Charlie, Dara's husband and once their mother's prized student. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school's annual performance of The Nutcracker - a season of competition, anxiety, and exhilaration - an interloper arrives and threatens their delicate balance.

'Compulsively readable' RUTH WARE

'A book you will not be able to forget' MARK BILLINGHAM

'My thriller of the year' JAKE KERRIDGE, DAILY TELEGRAPH, BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

'A twisting, turning story of revenge and redemption' STYLIST

'The feeling of menace grows stronger with every page' GUARDIAN

'Slow-burning and feverish, with all the intensity of a classic American film noir' MAIL ON SUNDAY

'Charged with foreboding, the novel throbs with gothic tension' IRISH TIMES

'Dark and juicy and tinged with horror' NEW YORK TIMES

'Dark and mesmerising' HARRIET TYCE

'This is Megan Abbott working at the absolute height of her talent' ATTICA LOCKE

'There's no one who captures the atmosphere of a tight-knit hothouse world, in all its feverish beauty and brutality, quite like Megan Abbott' TANA FRENCH

'This is Megan Abbott working at the absolute height of her talent' Attica Locke

Bestselling and award-winning author Megan Abbott's revelatory and mesmerising new novel set against the hothouse of a family-run ballet studio.

With their long necks and matching buns and pink tights, Dara and Marie Durant have been dancers since birth. Growing up, they were trained by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents' death in a tragic accident, the sisters began running the school together, along with Charlie, Dara's husband and once their mother's prized student. Marie, warm and soft, teaches the younger students; Dara, with her precision, trains the older ones; and Charlie, back broken after years of injuries, rules over the back office. Circling around each other, the three have perfected a dance, six days a week, that keeps the studio thriving. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school's annual performance of The Nutcracker, a season of competition, anxiety, and exhilaration, an interloper arrives and threatens the sisters' delicate balance.

'Abbott creates a dark and mesmerising world' Harriet Tyce

'A dreamy, sexy, a deep dive into a subculture . . . You feel the characters' aches and pains in your joints, your feet and, most dangerous of all, your heart' Laura Lippman

This is simply a masterclass in great storytelling and writing, an edgy and unpredictable tale full of nuance about the violence we inflict on others and ourselves