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The Bolshoi Saga: Svetlana is the third and final book in the series that is described as a feminist take on The Godfather, set in the world of Russian ballet.
The year is 1958, and sixteen-year-old Svetlana is stuck in a Moscow orphanage designated for the unwanted children of Stalin’s enemies. Ballet is her obsession and salvation, her only hope at shedding a tainted family past. When she is invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet—the crown jewel of Russian culture and the pride of the Soviet Union—her dreams appear to have been realized. But she quickly learns that nobody’s past or secrets are safe.
The dreaded KGB knows about the mysterious trances Sveta has suffered, inexplicable episodes that seem to offer glimpses of the past. Some very powerful people believe Sveta is capable of serving the regime as more than a ballerina, and they wish to recruit her to spy on the West as part of the nascent Soviet psychic warfare program. If she is to erase the sins of her family, if she is to dance on the world stage for the Motherland—if she is to survive—she has no choice but to explore her other gift.
The story of teenage Svetlana, matriarch of three generations of ballerinas, is both the end and the beginning of the Bolshoi Saga. This title, and the debut, Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy and its follow up, Hider, Seeker, Secret, Keeper can all be read as stand-alone novels, although reading all three will provide a deeper understanding of the often thrilling—and surprisingly dangerous—world of the Dukovskaya ballerinas.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
August 22, 2017 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781616956561
- File size: 1593 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781616956561
- File size: 1595 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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July 15, 2017
A teenager's dreams of dancing with the Bolshoi Ballet become inextricably entwined with the needs of the KGB.Kiem's Bolshoi Saga is known for its alluring combination of ballet, political intrigue, and Soviet culture, and this final installment is no different. The historical drama follows Svetlana, a 16-year-old living in Orphanage No. 36 in Moscow in the late 1950s because her parents were labeled Enemies of the People. Just as her dance career starts to take off, the KGB recruits her as a spy due to her semipsychic abilities. Now, she must balance her strange new relationship with her mother, ominous access to other people's memories, two competing loves, her inconsistent political opinions, and life on the stage as deftly as a triple pirouette, or her entire life--and the Soviet Union--could crumble. While Sveta's high-stakes lifestyle and relationships with the enigmatic Gosha and jazz-loving Viktor will keep readers flipping pages, those who have yet to study the Cold War might find particular references--and the overall tone--difficult to understand. The novel can also feel a bit disjointed, as the relatively pedestrian scenes of family, ballet, and romance compete with Sveta's pseudo-supernatural abilities, the KGB's cagey political schemes, and occasionally out-of-place lyrical language. A richly imagined novel that offers a unique perspective on the Soviet Union, this is most likely to find a place among ardent ballet and history buffs. (Thriller. 14-adult)COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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January 1, 2018
In 1958, Svetlana joins the Bolshoi Ballet, a cover for her work as a KGB "remote intelligence" agent. This third volume continues to follow a matrilineal family of dancers through generations of intrigue-filled history (most recently granddaughter Lana in �cf2]Hider, Seeker, Secret Keeper�cf1]). Wrenching mother-daughter relationships, fear of the Stalinist regime, and all-consuming passion for dance are portrayed with equal nuance and depth.(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
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