Clara and Olivia by Lucy Ashe
| Clara and Olivia by Lucy Ashe | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Zoe Morris
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| Summary: A rather pleasing book that combines the delicate ballet world with a dark subplot, this is really well-done and worth your time. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 352 | Date: February 2023 |
| Publisher: Magpie | |
| ISBN: 978-0861544080 | |
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The year is 1933. The place? Sadler's Wells. Ballerinas Clara and Olivia are sisters, twins no less. Identical on the outside but not, we learn, on the inside. And not on stage, either. Because there's a lot that builds a dancer. Some things that can be learnt – discipline, attention to detail – but some things, that je ne sais quoi, don't come from the classroom. A stage presence, a charm, a joie de vivre. The difference between a hard-worker, and a star.
The year is 1933. The place? Freed of London. Shoemaker Samuel is an artist in his own right, crafting delicate yet deceptively sturdy pointe shoes to support the most elegant of feet, those of the famous ballet company in the theatre around the corner. A place of intrigue and appeal. A place he can admire the beauties up close.
Clara and Olivia is a delight, a book that is at times historical fiction, at times a love story to ballet, and at times even a bit of a thrilling whodunit. Set around a production of Coppélia, it weaves in the perspectives of a colourful cast from the beautiful world of ballet – dancers, musicians and, yes, shoemakers. If you've ever seen a dancer's feet, that's a good analogy for this book. First appearances have it as attractive, romantic, soft, glamourous and elegant, but take off those pointe shoes and underneath the flesh is raw, the toes are bleeding, the feet are gnarled. There's backstabbing, betrayal, deceit and as much drama offstage as there is on.
What made this story for me, were the fine details about dancers and ballet, and the story of Coppélia, which was the first ballet I ever danced (in circa 1991). If you don't know it, you will by the end of this book – a wonderfully imaginative and comedic story about a young man called Franz who becomes infatuated with the beautiful Coppélia, annoying his girlfriend Swanhilda in the process. Oh and Coppélia is just a very life-like doll. And Franz is a numpty. But while the story of the ballet comes through, there are so many more details of the dancing world and the dancers' lives too.
The author trained at the Royal Ballet School, and has crafted a beautiful tale that weaves together fact and fiction, true superstitions alongside imagined scenarios in a very real theatre and a very real shoe manufacturer (both of which still exist today). It is not hard to imagine the lives of Clara and Olivia, or the various men whose lives they cross. They are appealing heroines – diligent and dedicated to their craft, but with personal lives that complicate things in the way you can just image for two girls in their early 20s. The London setting is fabulous, as so much of Covent Garden and the surrounding areas are still on the radar nearly 100 years later. Although the shops and businesses and general way of life may have changed, the cobbles and the general geography have not.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending us a copy to review. It was truly delightful, and made me want to pull out some pointe shoes from the back of a drawer and chaîné turn my way across the kitchen.
Of a similar vein, fans of the theatre world and/or a spot of crime should have a look atLoose-Limbed by David Barrie.
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