Flight of the Swan
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A renowned Russian ballerina is stranded in Puerto Rico as a revolution tears her homeland apart—and she finds herself in the middle of another uprising
In a truly multicultural story and a daring example of global fiction, Rosario Ferré uses her prodigious talents to deliver an unforgettable tale of love, politics, and the power of female expression. Based loosely on a real episode in the life of famous prima ballerina Anna Pavlova, Flight of the Swan follows Niura Federovsky as she flees Russia when revolution breaks out in 1917.
Adrift in San Juan, Niura falls in love with a much younger man. Her passion for revolutionary Diamantino Márquez mirrors the turmoil of the strife-torn island, and her dance troupe soon becomes caught up in Puerto Rico’s struggle for independence. Niura’s maid and confidant, Masha, the heart and soul of the novel, is devastated by Madame’s apparent abandonment of her art. Masha tries to save her mistress from heartbreak—only to lose her own heart to a most unexpected arrival.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Love and betrayal, political upheaval, the sacrifices required by dedication to art, and class differences are some of the themes that Ferr (The House on the Lagoon) engages in this imaginatively conceived but strangely lackluster story of a Russian ballet company stranded in Puerto Rico in 1917. Suddenly rendered stateless by the Russian revolution, a touring troupe headed by a famous prima ballerina is forced to remain in San Juan. As narrated by Masha, a member of the company who idolizes Madame and serves as her devoted maid and confidante, the troupe becomes caught up in the nascent Puerto Rican independence movement. Madame, who preaches the sanctity of art to her virginal acolytes, herself falls in love with Diamantino M rquez, a young man half her age, who uses her to further his revolutionary activities. Devastated by Madame's emotional abandonment, Masha attempts to save her mistress from her unwise passion. At first, Ferr 's straightforward narrative style ably conveys a wealth of background information, but soon digressions to explain historical events and long monologues overwhelm the plot. Jarringly, Masha's narration is broken off abruptly and briefly late in the story to introduce another voice. Overall, the novel is bland, devoid of stylistic distinction and sadly lacking in dramatic tension: even the climactic scene describing a tragic brawl during a carnival has little suspense. Despite Ferr 's laudable intentions to encapsulate a period of Puerto Rican history by fictionalizing some events in the life of Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, this novel falls short of her previous work.
